Just Blink
by DigitalHex
Summary: Ponyville prepares for the Great Apple Ball, the event of the century. Enter Aural Blink, second-cousin to Princess Twilight Sparkle. Blink is coming home for the holidays, where he also meets the wild Rainbow Dash. What is the problem, you ask? It's strictly business. ... Or is it?
1. Chapter 1

Just Blink

_Digital_Hex_

~.~.~.~.~.~

_Dedicated and in memory to Aylaana Kitori, who will always be my light in the darkness._

**Prologue**

The young purple filly groaned as the tiny horn on her head spurted out a few sparks before going dim once again. The past fourteen attempts at the spell had ended similarly.

"Why can't I do this?!" Twilight Sparkle moaned aloud, pressing her face against her pillow before screaming, the sound muffled from the pillow material. When she removed her face from the fluffy cushion, her face was redder than before.

"Okay, spell, let's do this!"

Twilight took one last glance at the spell-book in front of her before she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, catching it in her lungs. She let loose her store of magical energy, funneling all of it into her horn, washing the energy through the motions necessary to complete the spell that had so furiously refused to comply with her.

It was another failure, as evident by the sparks. Again.

Twilight groaned, flopping onto her side as she stared at the closed door to her bedroom. Outside of it, she could hear the sounds of her family laughing and talking amongst themselves, enjoying a reunion of sorts. Apparently, her mom's cousin was moving away, back to hometown of the husband to the cousin. There was a big send-off and party, and of course it had to obnoxious.

Everypony in their family seemed to have showed up. There were cousin,s aunts, uncles, and grandparents Twilight had barely known, if not ever met. The house was cramped with ponies upon ponies, and the only place Twilight had to study was her room. Shining Armor had run off to play with some of their cousins, so she didn't even have her BBBFF to practice magic with.

And on top of that, she couldn't even complete one stupid spell! Princess Celestia would surely be so upset with her if she couldn't complete this simple spell! Twilight glanced at her flank, the light purple star supposed to represent her ability at magic. Right now, she thought it should represent her failing, whatever it would look like if it were to be true. Was there a cutie mark for failing?

Suddenly, a light pop blinked in front of her, a small form falling out of thin air in the middle of her room.

"They'll never find me now," the form snickered, letting twilight know that it was a colt, probably one of her cousins.

The colt suddenly perked up, ears twitching almost mechanically before he spun around to face Twilight, adopting a defensive stance. His hide with a faded tint of teal, his mane a short, disheveled mess of even darker blue with twin streaks of brilliant purple bursting across the left side of his head. He didn't have a cutie mark.

All of this happened in the course of, say, two seconds. The kid was on edge.

"Who are you?" he asked, looking as though he was about to roll to either side to avoid a tackle of some sort.

"The owner of this room," she huffed. "And who might you be?" She let a hint of annoyance seep into her voice, trying to tell the strange pony off for interrupting her.

"I won't tell you until you tell me!" he retorted, sticking out his tongue and blowing her a raspberry. Twilight growled, rolling so she could rise to her hooves. As soon as she had her hooves under her, though, the faint teal pony gasped, blinking out of existence. Twilight barely had time to cock her head to one side before he poped back into reality a few feet away from where he had originally been, failing at trying to hide behind the edge of her dresser.

Twilight gave a snort of amusement when he froze completely, convinced she couldn't see him.

"I can still see you, you know?"

He sighed a defeated sigh before rolling back into the center of the room.

Twilight then comprehended what he had done moments before.

"Wait, you can teleport?!"

"Yep!" the colt said cockily, puffing out his chest with pride.

She strained her eyes as she scanned the head of the colt. She noticed something seemed to be missing.

"But... how can you do magic if you aren't a unicorn?"

The entire demeanor of the unicorn changed immediately. His shoulders shrugged. His head hung. It was almost as if somepony had slugged him in the gut. His entire form shook violently once, twice, before becoming still.

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but was silenced as the colt raised a hoof, gently sweeping away a few strands of hair on his forehead.

There, hidden by the hair, was a small, stubby horn, tiny even for his age. Sudden;y Twilight felt horrible for what she'd said. Sure, she'd been made fun of for having such a small horn herself, which was only just smaller than everypony else her age, but his was...

"Oh my-" she breathed, realizing how mean she must have sounded with her snap question. "I'm so sorry! I didn't realize- I just- oh, I'm sorry!" she cried, hoping she didn't hurt his feelings too bad.

Instead, she nearly jumped out of her hide as he threw his head back, revealing that he was desperately trying to hold back a mighty roar of a laugh. He failed.

His cackling died down as he felt a heavy object headed towards him. He flashed over a foot, just barely seeing the book Twilight had been reading pass by where he'd been sitting. Twilight had on an unimpressed scowl.

"That's not nice! I thought I'd hurt your feelings!" she pouted.

"Not nice?" the colt countered, blinking up onto the opposite side of the bed.

"You're the one who insulted my horn!" he returned, making her once again drop her eyes in shame.

"But, don't worry about it. Consider it even for me interrupting whatever you were doing, 'kay?" he asked, sticking out a hoof.

Twilight studied it carefully before she bumped it with one of her own. Her horn glowed faint magenta as her magical aura enveloped the book she'd thrown, returning it to her.

The colt suddenly leaped to his hooves, excited.

"Woah, how'd you do that?!" he practically hollered. "I can't pick stuff up!"

To prove his point, he tried grasping the book with his own magic. A very faint light purple aura encased the book, but as soon as it began lifting it dissipated immediately.

"See!" he said, waving a hoof in emphasis.

"How can you fail to pick up a book if you can teleport?" Twilight asked him, arching an eyebrow in confusion. "I'm trying to do just that, and failing miserably."

The colt cocked his head slightly.

"It's not that difficult," the colt said, before blinking right next to her, peering at the pages open of the book.

"Although..." he trailed off, raising an eyebrow at the diagrams on the page.

"You might want to start with ignoring-"

He placed a hoof over half the page, leaving a few lines of text along with two pictures visible.

"Half the stuff here."

Twilight threw him an appalled look.

"You can't just tell me to ignore the instructions! I have to study all of it-"

The colt blinked away again, back in the center of the room. Twilight blew out an angry puff of air. His constant teleporting was getting annoying.

"You have to stop looking at each individual aspect and just try and see the big picture," the colt explained.

"If you focus too long on each individual question you have, you won't see the bigger answer. It's like blinking- for something so important to do, you never have to consciously think, _and blink, and blink_."

He smiled softly, an honest smile.

"I guess," Twilight considered, looking at the book again, covering the same information that the colt had covered.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Instead of trying to do each and every part of the instructions as perfectly as she could, she let her magic go. She felt the magic wash over her, and suddenly she felt very light before a cold wind swept through her, startling her.

She opened her eyes.

She was sitting right next to the colt.

A few purple sparks sputtered from the tip of her horn as her smile grew into a giant grin.

"See," the colt said with a smug look on his face, "just like blinking."

Twilight started hopping around, excited.

"I did it! I did it!" she squealed giddily.

"Yeah," the colt laughed along with her, "you did! Good job, Twilight!"

Twilight froze, throwing her gaze on the colt.

"I thought you didn't know my name?"

The colt finished his laughing leisurely.

"You said this is your room, and I was told we were going to my second-cousins' house, Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle."

The colt then raised his hoof.

"I'm Aural Blink, I don't think we've met before! Nice to see you!"

His smile was genuine.

Twilight couldn't help but smile as well, meeting his hoof for the second time of the night.

"Good meeting you!" Twilight said excitedly.

Blink disappeared, a light sheen of purple dropping from where he'd been.

"Find me!" he said, the direction his voice came from sounding like it was outside of her window.

She took a deep breath before letting her magic go, and Twilight Sparkle popped back into reality right next to her window.

Looking out, she saw Blink running behind the single tree in their small yard.

"I've got you now," she whispered, giggling as she teleported to the far side of the tree. She stuck out a hoof expectantly, ready to shout at Blink, but was surprised when she couldn't find him. He was gone.

"Blink?" she called out. Suddenly, she heard a rustling in the tree above her.

"SNEAK ATTACK!" he screamed as he fell out of the tree, landing flat against the ground immediately to Twilight's left.

"Guess I didn't measure my distances right," he grumbled, face dug into the soft earth.

Twilight giggled, helping Blink to his hooves.

A glint on the horizon caught their eyes, and the two turned to see the sun send out it's final rays of light.

"Looks like the Princess is making it night," Blink observed. Twilight noted a sad look in his eyes.

"What's wrong, Blink?" she asked, poking at his side.

"Nothing," Blink said, giving her a sad smile. Then he tackled her, tickling her stomach.

"ACK!" Twilight cackled, squirming beneath Blink as he vigorously assaulted her tummy.

"Stop! Please!" she breathed, unable to speak any more due to her insane laughing.

"Blink! Blink, where are you?"

Aural Blink paused, looking up. His eyes rested on a very dark purple unicorn filly standing at the door to the house, his age with a snow white mane.

Both him and Twilight rolled away from each other.

"Yeah, Dream, what''s up?" he asked.

"Mommy and Daddy said it's time to go," she said. With that, she turned hoof and returned inside the house.

"Well," Blink huffed, this time helping Twilight to her hooves.

"I guess this is good-bye," he said giving Twilight a sort of half-smile.

"Don't worry, I'm sure I'll see you again!" Twilight said with a big smile, wrapping Blink up in a big hug. Blink returned it, smiling to himself.

"I guess," he said, this time a single tear visible in his eye.

"But until then, work on your magic," he joked, lightly punching her in the shoulder. "I fully expect you to be better than me the next time we see each other, okay?"

Twilight nodded in a highly animated fashion, her mane bobbing along with her head.

Blink laughed again, an innocent schoolcolt laugh as he wrapped Twilight in another hug. Twilight was vaguely aware that he was slightly smaller than she was.

"And remember, if you have trouble with your magic," he said as he pulled away from the embrace, waiting for the prefect moment to finish what he was saying. Right as Twilight was blinking, right when her eyes were closed, he let himself fall away.

"Just blink."

Twilight never saw him disappear, he was there and then he was just... gone.

She felt her heart drop a little, but then felt the beat return when she thought about the next time she would see him. When was that going to be? She grinned to herself as she teleported to her room, mind set.

She would definitely get better at magic than him. She'd promised him.

Turning the page to the spell-book, she looked at the next diagram. It was a tricky spell, one she had tried and failed at in the past.

She furrowed her brow, taking a deep breath.

A determined smile was on her face. She was ready.

~.~.~.~.~.~

**Chapter One**

_**Twelve Years Later...**_

I took a deep breath before feeling the familiar tingling sensation coursing through my body.

"I'll ask you again," a massive griffon bellowed at me, tied up and hung upside down in front of him. We were in the inner courtyard of the griffon stronghold, and I was in the middle of a rather unconventional distraction. I struggled to keep from snickering as I watched one, two, three of my battle brothers sneak rather clumsily behind the backs of the five griffons stationed nearby.

Why? Because the guards' attention was solely on me, a light teal pony. My deep blue mane was flipped in my face, the back of my mane cut short but the front mop loose and lightly curled. They never saw what they had coming.

"Who are you," the griffon barked, taking an intimidating step towards me, "and why are you here?"

I snickered slightly as my Captain stumbled past the final column, out of sight. Step on of the mission was a success.

"What is so funny, pony boy?" the griffon asked, poking me not-so-lightly with a talon.

I flicked my head to the side, letting the griffon before me see my pearly blues. I wanted to make direct eye contact with him. It sold the entire thing so much better.

"What is so funny is that you honestly thought you could hold me."

With that, I blinked out of the rope that was wrapped around me. I was now standing square on the griffon's back, looking at the others. They had the perfect expression smeared across their faces: surprise.

I leaped off the griffon's back as he reared back, roaring. I had to duck and swerve as the others fell into similar responses, swiping my way with sharp talons. I cackled with laughter as I popped away, appearing next to a set of heavy doors. I bucked at the doors, attempting to close them. Apparently I wasn't fast enough.

One griffon, swifter than the rest, darted through the doors at the last possible second, tackling me before I could fully close the massive doors. I didn't suffer fully from the blow, teleporting a few feet away as soon as I felt contact, but it distracted me long enough for the other griffons to charge the doors as one, knocking them open.

I blinked out, reappearing far down the stone hall, up a flight of stairs and on the opposite side of the floor. It was enough for them, however, to know where I was headed.

"Defend the throne room!" I heard the bog one bellow from the courtyard, and immediately a bell began sounding.

I raced down the hallway, unable to teleport again. I needed to recharge for a few seconds.

Skittering around a corner, I was breathing heavily after my sprint. I'd covered half the floor quickly, but my lungs were on fire.

"Glad to see you made it," the large white unicorn down a shorter hall before me said as he noticed my arrival. With him was a gray pegasus, one of the Equestrian Nightguard, as well as a burly orange earth pony, a crackled set of power-bands pinned to his huge, meaty hooves. I knew the earth pony, he was Painful Authority. Why his parents named him that was quite surprising. Sure, he had murderous bouts of uncontrollable rage and he had an absolute hold on his soldiers, but other than that he was a great guy. Once asked me if I thought he should get his wife roses or tulips after work one day. Seriously, a real softy off of work.

Right now, though, he was smashing the aforementioned pony-run hammers into the thick wooden door, splintering it from the hinges. I counted three blows before it imploded into the room in a mighty hail of shrapnel.

Seriously, what a guy. He even opened doors for you.

The Nightguard, a female I believed was named Garnet, rolled in immediately, and I grinned as I heard the pleasant sound of her knocking a griffon head against the ground as I would do an egg to my counter-top. I saw her throw the griffon across the room, landing in a heap by the door.

I loved my friends.

The rest of us entered the room, which turned out to be nothing more than the bottom to a flight of narrow stairs. Seriously, considering the fact that griffons could fly, I was rather surprised by the sheer amount of stairs in the stronghold thus far. Judging by the apparent height of the staircase, it was quite a ways up. Good thing I was there.

"Alright, Blink, you're up!" Shining Armor, the large white unicorn said as he conjured up a shield around the two of us. I pulled out a charge cuff from the small satchel strapped to my shoulders, slipping one over the stub on my head. Yes, I had a rather compact horn. Don't judge.

"You two, hold the guards off for us! We'll make this brief."

Garnet nodded. Pain simple smashed his hoof down over the limp griffon's body, eliciting a sickening squish and crunch from the body. If it had been alive before, well, it wasn't now.

"Blink, now!"

Jeez, Shining Armor was sure yelling an awful lot today.

"On it," I grunted as I drew power from my own magical reserves, having to bleed more from the charge cuff around my horn. Turns out, I had to bleed just about everything from the cuff, as I had barely recharged any of my magic.

We flickered away before blinking back at the top of the tall staircase. I was breathing heavily, sweating while shaking. Teleporting takes a lot out of you!

"Who goes there?!" a distinctively feminine voice bellowed. I cracked open my eyes to see a cape-clad mare standing atop a mighty griffon, pinned to a circle I recognized as a transmutation rune.

"I am Shining Armor, Captain of the Equestrian Guard," Shining roared back, almost making the stone shake. Impressive, he was.

"And you are the arch-sorcress Marelin, correct?"

"Aye," Marelin acknowledged, a knowing smile playing across her face. I didn't like this already.

"Then you are henceforth declared a standing liability to the peace treaty standing between Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom, as shown by your illegal passage into out of Equestrian borders, and are to be executed immediately."

I raised a brow at Shining Armor.

"Executed?" I breathed. "Sounds a little... harsh, you know?"

"Orders," Shining Armor stated, waiting for Marelin to make her move. She had to make a move.

I didn't let her make a move. Straining myself against my empty mana pool, I flashed behind her and thrust my hooves under hers, pinning her while slipping a nullification cuff over her horn, effectively canceling out her magic.

"Well done," she snickered, making absolutely no attempt to fight me.

The mighty griffon literally nailed to the rune coughed weakly, bleeding out from a number of precise cuts across his form.

"My goddess," Shining Armor breathed.

"What's up?"

"She couldn't have- no, not even you would be foolish enough to try this!"

Marelin simply cackled madly.

"What was she planning on doing?" I asked. Hell, I was the one holding her. I had a right to know what I'd interrupted. I might have been contagious.

"It's what she was about to finish, actually," I heard Shining Armor call. I rolled my eyes.

"What was it?!"

"She was planning on resurrecting the essence of Nightmare Moon and corrupting the Griffon King with it!"

I felt sympathy for the griffon king that was nailed to the floor. He had to have been in great, excruciating pain, but instead of receiving help from my some-what simple-minded second cousin he got to hear a plan he probably had already guessed. I'm sure the transmutation rune beneath him, drawn in his own blood I was sure, might have given him a clue or two that it was BAD.

"So," I worded, trying to help both mine and Shining Armor's minds along, "If she accepted, it would spell disaster for the griffon kingdom. The griffons would be in an uproar over what had happened to their king, and would blame Equestria-"

"While Equestria would have no choice but to launch a full-on attack on the Griffon Kingdom." Shining Armor finished, as if he'd known all along. I loved the guy like family, but that's just because he was. He had a difficulty using his brain, sometimes. It was a good thing I'd been doing it for him for awhile.

Actually, not entirely true. He'd at least had enough sense to recognize the overlying disaster the return on Nightmare Moon would have spelled. Kudos to him. Finally.

"So what should I do with her?" I asked, shrugging with Marelin in my grasp.

"Hold on," Shining Armor commanded me, thinking. Must have hurt the big guy.

"Your breathing is erratic," Marelin observed, having her back flat against my chest.

"Wonderful deduction, ma'am," I said, amusing her.

"Along with the thickening of your blood vessels, the deep but uncontrolled breaths- you're an asthmatic, aren't you?"

I have to say, I was impressed.

"I guess you really are as creepy as they say you are," I said dryly, refusing to directly answer her question. She must have got the hint, though.

"And unless I'm mistaken, if you carry a nullification cuff on you, then that must be because you are unable to perform the spell yourself, leading me to believe you are also inept at magic, at least in that field. Interesting."

I scowled, not liking where this was going.

"Hey, you!" she suddenly shouted at Shining Armor, catching his attention. He turned towards her.

The first indication I had that something was wrong was when I heard the distinctive sound of metal hitting stone. The other was as everything slowed down following the sound.

The runes on the floor lit up, glowing a sickly purple. Marelin suddenly flew out of my hooves, straight up.

A beam charged around her horn, and with the direction she was facing, I knew exactly what she was doing.

She was finishing the ritual.

Soldier instincts are a funny thing. Sometimes, they make you faster, more agile and sharper in motions. Other times, they give you that extra juice to do one last spell.

This time, it did both for me.

The beam left her horn, and I had no time to even think before I simply reacted.

I jumped.

I teleported.

I blinked.

My body lit up as the witchfire engulfed me completely, burning at my hide. I lashed out with my front hoof, feeling it connect with flesh.

The two of us fell to the stone, one landing on hooves, the other impaled on a nearby pin used to hold the giant griffon steady.

Spoiler, I was the one on my hooves, though barely so.

I saw the last glimmer of life spark from the mares eyes, a determined grin still plastered upon her muzzle, and then she erupted into deep green flames that consumed her as well as the griffon king. I looked away, being so close to the flames. I heard the dying cry of the griffon, and then they were gone.

"Be warned, Shining Armor of Equestria," Marelin's voice suddenly boomed across the room, thick but distant.

"By meddling with my plans, you have brought a curse upon your newest princess. Wait, and you shall see."

And then there was silence. It felt as though a veil over the room had been lifted, the air lighter now.

Shining Armor threw me a dirty look.

"What," I countered. "You said execute her."

"And you were the one who had a problem with that," Shining Armor sighed, suddenly looking like the tired captain, I respected. The cousin I respected.

I trotted slowly over to him, weak all over my body.

"Eh, don't worry. She's gone now, mission complete."

"No, mission not complete," he said.

"What?" I asked, blinking. "She's dead, right? I thought she was the target."

Shining Armor swept a hoof across the room, indicating the rune drawn across the floor and the general lack of bodies. It clicked in my mind. My turn for a dumb moment.

"Oooh..." I mumbled.

"So what did that mean? Who is this 'new princess', anyhow?"

Shining Armor stopped breathing for a moment. If he could have gone any more pale than his coat already was, then he would have.

I waved a hoof in front of his dead stare forward.

"Shining, you there?"

"I have a new assignment for you," he breathed.

"Oh?" I asked, but lost my attention as Garnet rose above the lip of the stair chamber, struggling with Pain beneath her in her grasp.

"We have company incoming," she breathed.

I sighed before digging into my bag, pulling out the last two energy cuffs I had and slipping one over my own horn, replacing the dead one, and letting the other one slide down Shining Armor's horn. I doubted he even noticed, or if he would notice what I was about to do.

Taking a deep breath, I connected my horn to Shining's, and grabbed as much of his energy as I could before enveloping the four of us in a bubble, and in a flash of energy we disappeared.

Half the country away, we popped back next to our airship, hidden in the rocky bay of the south-western coast of the griffon kingdom.

I shuddered as I tore the burning cuff from my horn, Shining behaving in a similar manner. I was weak in the legs, and one quick look at Shining Armor proved he was as wiped as I was. Collecting the two cuffs, we wearily climbed the ramp of the airship, and was met by the small crew inside. The pilot instantly had us take off, heading back to Equestria.

"You used all of them again, I see," the deep green unicorn in the back of the shuttle commented as I threw the wasted charge cuffs down before him, flopping to the floor. I was finished.

"We needed a quick getaway," I stated.

"And then some," he mused, picking up the cuffs carefully.

"These aren't easy to make, and the gems used to concentrate as much energy as needed to fill these are rather expensive, I'll have you know."

"So push me out of this airship," I moaned, throwing my hoofs up in the air. The green unicorn chuckled wisely.

I felt a heavy hoof rest on my shoulder. Turning, I was met with a somber-looking Shining Armor.

"Cousin, what is the matter?" I asked, seeing the concern in his eyes.

"The message we received back there, that was a warning was it not?"

"It sounded like it," I agreed.

"Then you have a new mission," he sighed, looking away. He almost seemed upset about what he was about to do.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"I need you to provide... security to somepony."

"Is it your wife, Princess Cadence? I heard that the threat was directed against the newest princess in Equestria, so surely it must have been her she was referring to."

Shining Armor shook his head slowly.

"Aural Blink, when was the last time that you were in Equestria?"

I blinked in surprise, not expecting such a... random question.

"I would say... twelve years, before I left with my parents to Anville."

Suddenly a white-maned filly flashed through my mind.

"This doesn't have to do with Dr-"

"NO!" Shining Armor cut me off before I started making a scene. It was a touchy subject, one that I was secretly glad he was not referring to.

"No, it-" he stopped, sighing once more.

"It's for my sister."

I blinked again, now very confused.

"Why?" I asked innocently.

He pointed to a pair of chairs bolted to the walls, ushering me to sit down.

"This is going to take a bit of explaining."


	2. Chapter 2

Just Blink

_Digital_Hex_

**Chapter Two**

The airship ride took the entire night and almost a full day following.

Did I get any sleep? Nope, because my second-cousin Shining Armor, Captain of the Equestrian Guard, spent the entire fragging time teaching me about the past decade in Equestria. I'd heard of some of it, such as Nightmare Moon returning, but when you live on a separate continent you usually don't get a whole lot of up-to-date news.

While he gave me a general overview about Equestrian society in the past twelve years, he eventually got to the part where Twilight really popped up. And boy did she pop up.

Any and every time Celestia so much as blew her nose, it seemed like Twilight and her friends were called in to fix something, even if there didn't seem to be anything to fix. I mean, sure, they saved Equestria from complete chaos at least a bajillion times over, but seriously, how bad was the Equestrian Guard back home? Our outpost at Anville, high in the griffon kingdom, a separate charter of land owned by Equestria, had absolutely no problems holding it's own against the rogue griffon factions that raided it almost weekly. Or, _attempted_, to raid it, as I should point out.

Finally, long after day break, around noonish the following day we left the home of the feathered ones, he told me the really important news:

"Twilight is now an alicorn princess."

… Hold the phone- captainoftheguardsaywhatnow?

"Huh?"

Shining Armor gave a soft chuckle, having long returned to his friendly demeanor. He was a totally separate colt inside and outside of battle.

"I know, hard to believe, right? I guess she earned her wings, at it is, by finishing some spell. No clue what it does, but apparently it was enough for Celestia. And hey, can't argue with her, right?"

My eyes told him I definitely intended to argue with her.

"Whoa whoa whoa, are we talking about the same Twilight Sparkle?! The same one that I only met once, and in that short span _I_ actually taught _her_ something about magic?!"

I fell on my back, looking up at the ceiling openly.

Well there you have it, apparently anypony could become an alicorn princess.

"I thought she had magical deficiencies, I had no idea she was the fragging child-prodigy of Princess Celestia!"

"Nah, you only met her right after she was accepted to Celestia's Academy for Gifted Unicorns."

I sat up bolt-right.

"She was an academy student at that age?! She was barely- she _is_ barely- older than I am!"

"I know," Shining Armor said, chuckling. "She's smart."

"She must be a complete genius," I commented before falling back against the floor. By now, the hard wooden planks beneath my hide were as welcoming as a soft cloud pillow, it was all the same to me after all these years.

"Well, she did always specialize in one particular field of magic, and if I do recall it started right after you left," Armor said, still chuckling softly to himself about some inside joke only he was privy to. I looked around and saw a few other guards grinning at his statement.

Why was I the only one out of the loop?!

"Oh yeah?" I countered. "What field was that?" I asked as I blinked upright, now sitting back in my chair. I could see Equestria on the horizon.

"Teleportation."

I sputtered. I just sputtered. There was nothing I could do other than sputter. Well, I guess falling out of my newly reacquired chair counts as something, but still.

I could hear a round of laughter go around the cabin.

"More influential in her life than you thought, huh?"

I rubbed my head as I blinked back into my chair, cringing.

"I guess," I answered.

"It'll be alright, Blink. This is just a temporary security detail until we can find a counter-spell to whatever Marelin planned for us. It shouldn't take long at all," he assured me.

"Do you even know what spell she _might_ be using?" I asked innocently enough. Shining Armor shook his head 'no', the goofy smile still plastered to his face.

I groaned.

"Well, at least I'll be able to catch up with Twilight. It'll be good to talk with some family."

"Hey," Shining Armor whined, waving a hoof over himself.

"Oh, I've gotten enough of you, dude. I'll take Twilight."

The round of laughter that elicited lasted until we reached a little town in the north of the south-eastern desert, at a little town called Dodge Junction. It wasn't really a town, more of a little community along the rail line.

"Why are we docking here?" I asked Shining Armor. He responded to me by tossing me my saddle bag.

"This is your stop. We're circling back to Baltimare, have to alert the coastline cities about the threat from the griffon kingdom. We still have to assume the griffon king is now dead, so in all sense, we failed the mission. The only thing left to do is prepare for a possible war.

"You, on the other hoof," he said as he picked me up with his magic, taking me to an open door hatch.

Gulp.

"Are taking a train to Ponyville."

With that, he pushed me out the door.

Let me repeat that: HE PUSHED ME OUT THE FRAGGING DOOR.

"BUUUCK YOOOU!" I screamed as I fell, trying to get a lock on myself with my magic. It didn't take too long for me to teleport safely o the ground, but that wasn't the point. He'd pushed me out of a moving airship! The nerve...

"Hey pal," I heard somepony call to me. I turned to see a tired old pony standing next to a train that looked as if it were about to set off.

"You going to join us?"

I sighed and teleported over to him, passing him and entering the train. The inside wasn't shabby but it was definitely plain. More wooden flooring for me. I know my hide was thick and all, but I would have killed for some shag carpet at that point.

I reached into my saddle bag to remove my bits bag for my ticket aboard the express.

"Your ticket was paid for in advance," the old pony said as he closed to door.

Well okay then.

I dropped the bag unceremoniously back into my bag before settling down into a seat. I saw the sun beginning to dip in the horizon.

"We are off to Ponyville," the conductor said before moving up the train. Moments later, the car I was in lurched forward.

"I took out a book from my bag, completing the three items I had in there: a single charge cuff, my bag-o-bits, and the book I was currently opening.

And what could that book have been?

Why, a spell-book. I had a promise with Twilight I fully intended her to break.

Then I realized that she'd become an alicorn princess specifically through completing a spell of her own.

I tossed the book aside as I fell the other way, falling asleep instantly.

Thankfully, I was the only one on the two-car train.

The conductor woke me when he made it to the station in Ponyville. The sun had dropped from the horizon not too long ago, the moon beginning its glorious trail across the sky.

I took a deep breath, preparing myself as I collected my book, stowing it in my bag before departing the train, tossing a bit at the conductor and blinking away before he could throw it back. Hey, I could give tips, couldn't I?

I looked around, spotting a massive oak tree not far away from the train depot that I assumed was the Golden Oaks Library, as Shining Armor had described it. I guess this was where I was going to be staying.

I trotted over, but right as I knocked on the door, my horn lit up, Shining Armor's voice ringing through my mind.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, but I don;t think that Twilight needs to know she is in danger, so it would be best if you don't mention that you are there to provide security. Good luck!"

I felt a bead of sweat roll down the side of my face as the door opened. What was I going to to say?! I thought Shining Armor had set this up for me already, but judging from his message, I was completely on my own! What was I going to do, be all, "Hey I know we haven't seen each other for over a decade and all but I really wanted to visit you and maybe hang out here a week or two until I decide to leave for no apparent reason?"

NO!

"Oh, why hello..."

I snapped back to reality to find a white unicorn mare had answered the door, her fashionable purple mane bouncing as she cocked her head to the side, waiting for a response.

"Are you here for a book? I'm so sorry, but I regretfully inform you that the library is closed," she said with a small frown, as though she didn't want to be telling me this.

"Ah, uh..." I stammered, shaking my head. "Is Twilight here?" I asked, trying to peer around the mare.

"Oh, you're here for Twilight?" the mare asked, casting me a suspicious look. "I don't believe I've seen you around, do you know her from somewhere?"

The words _live here_ sparked an idea in my head. It was a rather cheesy idea, but it was a way nonetheless that I might convince Twilight to let me stay here for a little while.

"I'm her second cousin," I said, turning slightly so she could see my cutie mark. I'd seen Twilight's cutie mark once before, and I had realized we shared the light purple central star in both of ours. However, while hers was flanked by five smaller stars, mine had a winged set of keys on each side.

"Oh! Well, let me get her..."

The white mare stepped away from the door, heading back inside. She'd left the door open a crack, although I'm sure it was more as a courtesy of not closing it in my face as opposed to inviting me inside, so I sat down on the mat outside.

A few moments later, I heard the steady clopping of hooves and the door swung open again, revealing the white unicorn. She ushered me inside, a tiny smile on her face. She motioned for me to be silent, pointing me along the wall. A curtain had been set up in the center of the room, a curtain that I went ahead and assumed Twilight was behind.

"Rarity, was that the last dress you had?" I heard Twilight call out from (of course) behind the curtain. There was no mistaking Twilight's voice; she still sounded like the little filly I remembered.

Rarity stifled a laugh as she magicked over a picture Twilight had on a table nearby. I recognized it immediately.

It was the last family picture we'd all had together, all the family up to great-grandmother Iris Haze. It was when I'd actually met Twilight, and as I remembered, we were on completely opposite sides of the picture. That night had been the last time I'd been in Equestria until then. I was actually rather surprised that she had such a picture.

"How'd you notice me in this picture?" I hissed to Rarity.

"I'm a designer," she hissed back. "I can pinpoint little details like that rather easily, dear."

"I see," I mumbled, tossing the picture into the air and catching it shakily with my magic to return it to its original position. If I'd tried simply levitating it from where I'd been with any motion to it, I would have probably drained my entire reserve of mana. Yeah, I wasn't very efficient at anything that wasn't teleporting.

"Rarity?" Twilight called again.

"Ah, yes dear," Rarity said, stumbling through the curtain.

They began a hushed conversation on the other side of the curtain, one I guessed that I wasn't supposed to hear.

The funny thing about curtains, they don't exactly block sound that much.

"You didn't tell me that you had a member of your family coming here!" Rarity said, a tinge of excited glee in her voice. Was it really that rare for- never mind.

My heart started racing.

"Family?" Twilight asked, voice full of confusion. I smiled a little bit, knowing I was the source. Ah, such beautiful confusion.

"I don't remember getting any letters... and I certainly don't recall sending out any invitations..."

I would have taken warning at her words, which seemed intimidating at first, but the way in which she said them was almost hoping. Perhaps she was optimistic as to who it might be.

A thick cloud of purple magic wrapped the curtains, and before I could so much as twitch they were cast aside. My heart stopped.

There was Twilight Sparkle, wearing a simple purple dress with light magenta design stitching. She was...

I had to blink to make sure I was seeing this right.

She was absolutely beautiful, breath-taking. Shining Armor had told me she was an alicorn now, but having only seen the Princess Celestia once in my younger years, this was officially the second time I'd seen such an ethereal creature. Hard to believe she was my second-cousin.

I had a small urge to bow to her, show some sign of respect, but instead-

"Howdy," I said as I tipped a hoof from my forehead. "Long time no see, eh cuz?"

She was speechless. The look on her face was sheer shock. I knew she recognized me, but I don't think she actually realized that I was truly standing not five paces away from her, the first time after twelve years. It must have been like seeing a ghost.

However, why was seeing me so suddenly such a dramatic event for her? I was doubtful that I was the only cousin she hadn't seen in a while, and to top it off we'd only met once before.

She snapped out of her trance, raising a leg in a victorious pose.

"I think I won the bet," she said with a giggle, stretching her giant wings for emphasis. I smiled.

"I guess you did," I said, my smile turning into a sincere smirk.

We held eye contact for a while, not daring to look away. I realized I'd missed the studious little unicorn- excuse me, alicorn- more than I'd originally thought.

Rarity coughed next to Twilight, gathering our attention.

"Twilight, won't you be a dear and introduce me to your...?" Rarity asked, slowly approaching me.

"Ah, this is my second-cousin, Aural Blink," Twilight said as Rarity raised a hoof to me. I mentally rolled my eyes as I took and it offered a simple, dignified kiss to the hoof. I'd had to impersonate royalty before, I knew the motions well enough.

"I'm rather surprised you remembered my name," I admitted. "It's been over twelve years, after all."

Rarity gasped.

"You two haven't seen each other in over _twelve years_?! That's horrible!"

"Yeah," I said, sharing a look with Twilight. "The four of us moved to Anville, which is an Equestrian outpost in the northern part of the griffon kingdom."

I bit my hoof after saying that, knowing I just said something I really hoped they wouldn't pick ask about.

"Oh my..." Rarity said.

"Yeah, I-"

Twilight interrupted me.

"-Rarity, I'm not trying to be rude, but isn't Sweetie Belle waiting for you? We were supposed to be done almost an hour ago, after all."

Rarity gasped, her magic grasping each and every object I assumed to be hers in the room. Dresses on hangars, folding curtains, fold-out mannequins, all of it was shoved and crammed onto a luggage cart and pushed out the door by Rarity.

"So sorry to cut this short, Aural," she said as she struggled with her things.

"It's just, Sweetie Belle can be rather a hoof-full when left alone, so-"

"No problem," I assured her, laughing slightly. "And it's Blink, Miss Rarity."

"And it's Rarity to you," she told me, throwing me a wink before she slipped through the door after her cart. I heard her scream down the road after her things.

"That's Rarity for you," Twilight said, her wings secured at her sides.

I finally took a decent look around the room we were in. It was... a library. Big surprise. I guess she was as book-hungry as when I'd met her.

She trotted over to me before throwing a big hug around me, catching me slightly by surprise before I warmed up to her touch, returning it briefly before we pulled away. It took me a second after we separated to realize I was looking down at her slightly; I was taller than her, now.

"You know," Twilight said, tears forming in the edges of her eyes, "It took me almost four weeks of waiting for you to show up for me to realize the going-away party was for you."

I rubbed the back of my mane awkwardly. "That's... quite sad, honestly." I chuckled slightly.

"Yeah, it is!" Twilight laughed. She had a wonderful laugh.

"But I took what you said to heart," she said as she brought a hoof to her chest.

"I really improved a lot after that, actually."

"Yeah, Shining Armor said you were particularly fond of transportation spells for a while after I left. Still are, as he said."

"You've spoken with Shining Armor? When was this?"

"On the airship over here," I said, rolling along without realizing where the conversation was inevitably heading.

"You took an airship here? Where from?"

"We were doing an... operation, in the griffon kingdom. He led me and two others on a mission recently."

My mind was subconsciously telling me to shut up, that I was saying too much, but I reasoned she had a right to know this stuff. I mean, she was a princess now and all.

"Oh," Twilight said, looking a little upset.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"I don't want him doing anything too dangerous."

"He wasn't," I said firmly. Lie number one.

"Okay," she said, visibly perking up.

"Still, that doesn't explain one thing," she said, cocking her head to the side.

"Oh?"

"What are you doing here?"

I gulped hard. Do or die time.

"I, uh..." I stammered, looking around, willing myself to use the excuse I'd come up with.

She blinked twice, starting to give me a suspicious look.

I had to say something.

"I'm looking for a house here."

She blinked in surprise.

"What?" she asked.

"Yeah," I stuttered, taking a deep stabilizing breath. "I was going to look for a house here, you know. Shining Armor keeps telling me I need to find a place to settle down, after all that's happened."

"What all has happened?" Concern flooded her face.

"N-nothing," I assured her. Lie number two.

"Nothing serious, at least." Still technically lie number two.

"But he suggested I look in Ponyville; he said you loved it here and all, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

Wow, I was actually surprised I'd followed that excuse all the way through without completely falling apart. I was normally pretty bad at excuses, mainly because I rarely made and/or used them.

Twilight gave some thought to this, looking off to the side.

"Okay," she said as she returned her gaze to me.

"Okay?" I asked her.

"Okay!" she said, excited. "I could always show you around town! We're planning for the Great Apple Ball, after all, so the town will be even more festive soon! It's the perfect time to look around the town, meet the ponies. Everypony here is so friendly, I'm sure you'll love it!

"But I take it you don't have anywhere to stay, right? That's why you're here?"

She wore a smirk that was half amused and half knowing. She really could put two and two together after all. So far she was leagues ahead of her brother. Too bad what she believed was a lie.

"Y-yeah," I admitted. "I don't really know anypony here, so-"

"Great!" Twilight exclaimed, hopping into the air with excitement. "You can totally stay here! As long as you need!"

She seemed a little too... willing.

"Is there any particular reason you're so willing and excited for this?" I asked.

"This is good news," Twilight explained, "because you could help out around town while you browse. It'll help you get situated with the ponies so much quicker, plus we could use all the help we can get! The Ball is in two weeks, after all!"

I saw what she was doing. She was offering me board for assistance around town. I admit, I was impressed. She already had a plan.

"Sounds good," I said with a smile. Two weeks was just about the time Shining Armor wanted me to stay by Twilight's side, after all. Plus, after Shining Armor explained the meaning behind Marelin's threat, I wanted to keep my eye on my cousin.

"Yeah!" she said with a huge smile, throwing another bear hug at me.

"This is going to be great!"

I couldn't wipe the smile from my face. I hadn't seen any family (besides Shining Armor, and him only recently) in, well... a while. It was nice.

"You can use the basement room," Twilight said as she pulled away, giving an excited flap of her wings.

"I'll have to clean it up, of course, but it should be plenty accommodating for you!"

"Thanks," I said, ruffling her mane with my hoof. She giggled.

A quiet thud sounded from up the staircase to our right.

"Oh, we should... probably be quiet. Spike is asleep, after all."

"Spike?" I asked. Was there somepony else here as well?

"Yeah, he's my assistant. He's the baby dragon I hatched during my entrance exam for Princess Celestia's school, and he's been with me ever since!" she said proudly.

"Nice."

"Right, so... this way!" she said, opening a door underneath the staircase that revealed...

… Another staircase. Nice.

"After you," I said, holding the door open with a small prick of magic. It was about all I could manage, but it was enough.

Twilight looked at the small purple burst holding the door open for her, then at me. She raised a brow.

"You're still not good with physical magic?" she asked.

"N-nope," I said, shifting my magic slightly.

She noticed my slight studder and stepped inside the door way, lighting some candles along the stairway. I noticed they gave off no smoke. Nifty.

I took a deep breath of relief as I stepped inside the stairwell, letting my magic drop.

"That should be a rather simple spell, you know?" she said as we descended the stairs.

"Yeah, I'm really only good at teleporting spells," I admitted.

"Fair enough," Twilight said. "I've been struggling with transfiguration, we all have our strengths and weaknesses."

"True," I added.

We reached the foot of the stairs, where Twilight lit a few more candles. I studied her as she did so, how she performed the spell. It seemed like a simple combustion spell, but I knew she had some kind of ward or hex on it to prevent it from growing or dying out. She really was good at magic.

"You'll have to teach me how to do that sometime," I said as I looked around the newly-illuminated room. It was a storage room for (what else?) books. She had a big piece of machinery under a tarp hidden in the corner, something I did not want to go near. Ever.

There was a simple bed along the wall, a lamp on a small table next to it. That was it, everything there was to the room.

"Huh, I guess Spike really did clean up the room a bit," Twilight said as she ran a hoof along the floor, coming up with a very thin layer of dust.

"Recently, too," she added.

"Well, I appreciate it," I said, taking off my bag and setting it down next to the table.

Twilight yawned deeply, in turn causing me to yawn even deeper. This set off a string of yawns between us, almost as if we were trying to out-yawn each other.

"That's enough of that," I said as I clamped my mouth shut after the fourth minute of the little competition.

"Yeah, well, I'll show you around town tomorrow morning then, m'kay?" she said, eyes drooping slightly.

"Sounds good," I said.

She began climbing the stairs.

"Want me to wake you up in the morning?"

"That would be nice," I called back to her. I didn't get a response other than the door closing. I assumed that was a yes.

I looked back around the room, eyes falling eventually falling on the table. I hadn't noticed before, but a small book was tucked between the lamp and the wall. Curious, I prodded it out with a hoof and blew the dust off the cover.

A single tear welled up in my eyes.

It was the same spell-book Twilight had been reading the day I met her. The spine was well-worn, and the book had definitely seen better days, but it looked as comforting as a teddy bear would have.

Sighing, I flicked on the lamp, using my magic to extinguish the candles. Extinguishing spells were pretty simple, but they still took a bit out of me.

Cracking open the book, it fell open to the last page I'd seen, the teleportation page. However, there were now little notes scrawled in-between the lines of text, clean font and evenly spaced. If the ink hadn't been a purple color, I might have mistaken it for actual text in the book.

I smiled as I laid my head down, looking at the diagram. She'd taken the liberty of drawing the direction the magic should move along the flute, how much energy should be applied per second, all sorts of things I never truly thought about. She had magic down to a science.

I never remembered closing my eyes, but before I knew it, I was asleep.

My dreams were never pleasant. They almost always started out innocently enough.

This time, I was sitting in a swing, alone in a playground atop a hill. I recognized it as the playground back in Anville. Rocky formations dotted the playground, natural formations the foals would use as pretend mountains and the such.

"Blink..."

I looked around, searching for the source of the sound. It had come from all around me, yet nowhere at the same time.

"Bliiink..."

There, right behind me. I teleported, now facing directly behind me.

There was a dark purple filly, her white mane the same wild mess it had been the last time I'd seen her. Her horn was crooked, having been broken. Blood drained slowly from an open wound along it. Her eyes were closed.

"D-Dream..." I gasped, feeling my legs go weak.

"Why'd you let them do it, Blink?" Dream asked me, her voice exactly the same as it had been ten years ago.

"Why'd you let them hurt me?"

I fell to my face, tears forming. This was the way the dreams always went, this was my reminder to never fail.

"Why weren't you there?"

I looked up, wanting to say something to comfort my little sister, the sister I would never see again.

That was a mistake.

Her horn imploded into her face, just as it actually had. Her blood splattered everywhere, but I couldn't see it. I couldn't see anything.

Through all the tears, I blinked.


	3. Chapter 3

Just Blink

_Digital_Hex_

**Chapter Three**

I woke up to Twilight shaking me awake.

"What- oh, hey," I groaned, rubbing my head. It felt as though I'd taken a club straight to the noggin. Wouldn't have been the first time.

"You were screaming," Twilight said, concern apparent on her face.

"Was I?" I asked, now rubbing my eyes. They were wet. "What time is it, anyhow?"

"It's a little bit before seven," she informed me.

"Oh-" My eyes shot wide open. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

"No," she said her face still serious. "I was already up, but..."

She gave me a pleading look.

"You were screaming for somepony to leave her alone."

I sighed, one of my hooves subconsciously rubbing my horn.

"Who is _she_? What... what happened?"

"N-nothing," I mumbled, throwing my back hooves out of the bed. I landed on the floor stiffly, legs sore and tight.

"Are you-" Twilight began, but I cut her off.

"I'm fine, honest," I said, now giving her my best pleading face. "Can we just... forget about it?"

"But-"

"Please?" I was trying my hardest not to be rude, but I really didn't want to talk to her about it.

Twilight locked eyes with me. I could see she had good intentions; she wanted to help me. We might have only met each other once before, but we were still family. Family helps family.

After a few minutes (yes, she was _that_ stubborn) she sighed, dropping her eyes.

"Alright," she said, taking a step backwards.

I decided to ruffle her mane with my hoof, garnering a small smile from her. I must have reminded her of her brother, doing that to her when she was younger.

"So, seven o'clock, eh?"

"Oh!" Twilight said before flashing out. I heard her hoofs click against the floor upstairs, Rolling my eyes, I blinked out, appearing right next to her in the main room. She was browsing one of the many bookshelves that spanned the walls of the room.

"If we're going to go look around Ponyville, and you really are interested in moving here, then you should really get to know the area," she explained as she levitated a purple book down from the bookshelf.

"We have _Ponyville History_," she said as she placed the book on the floor next to her.

"Twilight..."

"Oh, there's _Creatures of Equestria_, too- there are so many odd animals that live around here, it's a good guide-"

The book went atop the other, beginning a stack I knew wasn't going to stop growing any time soon.

"Twilight-"

"Maybe _Flora and Weeds_, it's useful!"

"Twilight-"

"There's always _Unexpected Survival Spells_, you wouldn't realize how often I use them."

"What the-"

"_Fruits of Labor_ is also a good one!"

"Twilight!"

There was no stopping her.

"_Incredible Facts_ is a must, as well as _Myths of Old_. Although, they really aren't that old, as we run into them every-other weekend-"

"TWILIGHT!" I barked, causing her to jump.

"Oh? What-"

I pointed at the mountain of books beside her. It was taller than her.

"What?"

I raised an eyebrow, then looked bside me, pretending I was looking up at a giant, horrifying creature. She got the message.

"I do suppose it is a _tad_ too many books for now..." she mumbled, slowly browsing the covers as she levitated back a few of the books.

I shook my head at the remaining stack. It still stood flank-height!

A few more books returned. Now four stacks of five books each. Uh-uh.

Twilight began studying the covers intently, trying to decide which books were the most important at the moment. I saw one of them titled _Potent Probabilities_. What that book was supposed to do to help me around town, I had no idea.

"Twilight, I really don't need to read any books, actually," I told her. No response.

"Plus, Shining Armor already gave me the general run-down of the town, so I probably know all of the important facts about this place."

She looked up, looking doubtful.

"Okay, some of the important facts!"

She narrowed her eyes.

"A few?" I reached.

She sighed, a slight smile coming to her lips.

"It's no use," she said, throwing her hoofs in the air in a mock tantrum. "You are hopeless!"

I suddenly heard a rough scraping sound from up the stairs. Looking up, I saw a small purple dragon with green fins and a yellow belly at the top step. He had a round belly, and judging by his side I assumed he couldn't have been even close to reaching maturity. Had to have only been a decade or so in age, still technically a baby by dragon standards.

"Oh, Spike. Glad to see you're awake!" Twilight greeted the baby dragon, who upon reaching the floor gave a huge yawn, blinking his green eyes.

"Mornin' Twilight," he mumbled sleepily.

"Alright, sleepy head, I have a list of chores for you on the counter, so as soon as you've had a little breakfast I expect you to get right on them. Okay?"

"Yeah, 'kay," Spike yawned as he slipped into the kitchen. I doubt he even saw me through his entire trek. Twilight gave a soft laugh.

"That's Spike. He's still waking up right now, but talk to him later and I bet you'll be friends immediately."

"I bet," I murmured. Twilight didn't catch what I said.

Twilight, meanwhile, was magically unfurling a map of Ponyville, apparently scratching the route we'd take onto it.

"Alright, let's go!" she said excitedly.

Following her out, I closed the door behind us and was immediately assaulted by the morning sun. It got bright out here a lot faster than in the griffon kingdom, what with it's mountainous terrain and northern location.

And so began our adventure across Ponyville.

Twilight showed me the town hall, explaining the entire history behind it. Trotting around, offhoofedly introducing me to various townsponies along the way. Going through the marketplace, right as it was beginning to set up. She had a by-the-book description for everything in this town.

I mean EVERYTHING.

"And that is why it was called the Everfree Forest," she said as we returned from the edge of the great woods. To me, it looked like just another forest. Apparently they didn't have a lot of those here, though. Must have been fascinating to the townsponies and such.

The sun was now high in the sky, getting close to noon. I was feeling a tad bit hungry. I was about to voice my thoughts about getting some food, but Twilight interrupted before I could. Or should I say, her stomach interrupted.

_GRRROOOooowwwlllLLL...!_

Twilight jumped suddenly at the sound her stomach made, looking sheepish as a tinge of red came to her face.

"I suppose it's about time to get some food, yes?" she asked.

"Sure thing," I said. "What's a good place here for some chow?"

"Chow?" Twilight asked, cocking her head.

I facehoofed.

"Food," I explained.

"Ah," understanding washing through her face. "There's always Sugar Cube Corner! Oh, Pinkie Pie might even be working!"

I cocked an eyebrow. That name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place a color palette to the name.

"Oh, Pinkie Pie- she's one of my good friends. You know about the elements of Harmony, right?"

Oh, so _that's_ who Pinkie Pie was. Shining Armor had given me a rough overview of the elements of Harmony, Twilight representing the element of Magic. Figures. I believed that Pinkie Pie was... Fun? Happiness? Parties? He used a lot of single words to describe Pinkie Pie, I had them confused a little.

"Oh, right. You guys only saved Equestria, like, a bajillion times by yourselves."

"Not a bajillion," she said, looking rather humble. "But, it was a few..."

We shared a laugh as Twilight stopped in front of me. In front of us was a rather odd building. It resembled a gingerbread house, but it was... well, a freaking house/cafe monstrosity. I didn't know if we were supposed to go in or simply eat the building. Twilight walked straight in, so I decided to follow suit. The smell of baked goodness wafted out the door, and suddenly I was in a sugar-induced paradise.

"Ah, Twilight! How good to see you!" a rather chunky (but not fat) blue pony from behind the counter said, organizing the display treats. Atop the counter was a rack of bagels and cupcakes, and there were a few tables inside the store.

"Hello, Mrs. Cake!" Twilight said with a smile, approaching the baker lady. She then turned to me.

"Blink, this is Mrs. Cake, she runs Sugar Cube Corner with her husband."

"Mr. Cake?" I guessed.

"You've met?" Mrs. Cake asked me, face almost dead serious. Almost.

"Anyways," Twilight said, interrupting the horrible joke that was about to occur, "is Pinkie Pie here?"

"I'm sorry dear, but she isn't. She insisted on taking the twins to the park, and dashed out before I could say anything! At least she finished all of her chores before she left," Mrs. Cake said, a somewhat distant look in her eyes.

"Ah," Twilight commented, "I suppose that's okay. This is Blink, my cousin from Anville," Twilight said, setting a hoof on my side. "I was showing him around, and we thought we'd pick up something for lunch. What do you have?"

"Well, Princess," Mrs. Cake said with a giggle, "We just pulled out some fresh muffins-"

"MUFFINS!"

We turned to see a gray pegasus entering the shop, a small bag of bits clenched in her jaw. How she managed to shout and not drop the bits amazed me.

"Ah, hello Ditzy!" Mrs. Cake said, suddenly looking a little nervous. "I'll help you in just a moment."

"O-kay!" Ditzy said happily. I noticed her gold eyes were slightly cocked, one pupil aiming a bit further up and more centered than the other.

"We'll take two," Twilight said rather quickly, passing over four shiny bits. I hadn't even seen her pull them out.

"Oh, we can't charge royalty!" Mrs. Cake insisted, pushing the bits back.

"No no, I couldn't," Twilight said, levitating the bits over and dropping them directly in front of Mrs. Cake.

"I might be a princess, but that doesn't mean I'm any different than anypony else here!" Twilight said. Her voice was soft and sincere, making Mrs. Cake sigh in defeat.

"If you're not going to give up on this," Mrs. Cake said as she pulled out a bag, two muffins sitting warmly inside. I have no idea how she already had those prepared, being an earth pony and all. Did she have a unicorn in the back pre-wrapping everything?

"Nope!" Twilight said with a grin, making Mrs. Cake smile.

"Well here you go, sweetie! Hope you two enjoy!"

"We will," Twilight said as we left. "Have a nice day!"

I waved to Mrs. Cake as I left. She returned it, but then started cowering as the gray mare approached her. I was out the door before I saw any more.

"So, what's it like being a princess anyhow?" I asked Twilight. That was something I was rather curious about; she didn't seem to be doing anything particularly regal.

"It isn't really any different than when I was Princess Celestia's student here. I suppose that's because I'm still a new princess, so there isn't really too much for me to do right now, but until then I'm looking over Ponyville just as I used to."

"Interesting," I commented as we headed to a table with an umbrella over it.

Sitting down, I saw that we had a perfect view of the marketplace. The day was starting to pick up, with a healthy stream of ponies browsing the goods spread throughout the stalls.

I had just bit into my wonderful golden muffin when Twilight started waving frantically, trying to get somepony's attention.

"Howdy!"

An orange mare, well built and wearing a stetson, trotted over casually, bumping hooves with Twilight before looking me up and down. Twilight took a small bite of her own muffin as Applejack grew a smug look on her face.

"Who's this, your coltfriend?"

I spat my muffin out at the same time that Twilight did. We ended up covering the orange mare with half-chewed muffin. Such a shame, it was a good muffin.

"A-Applejack!" Twilight sputtered.

"Ah'm right, ain't ah!" Applejack announced, a victorious look on her face.

"Applejack, you-"

"Ah am right! Ha! Shoot, why didn'tcha tell me, Twi?" Applejack asked, wrapping a leg around me while laughing loudly. "I bet you two have even been bumpin'-"

"APPLEJACK!" Twilight shouted.

"Wha?" Applejack asked, her words grinding to a halt. She didn't realize it, but I was suffocating in her legs; her leg was literally wrapped around my neck, strangling me. My legs were flailing madly in the air, and I was unable to break from her grip. She had a lot denser legs than griffons.

"This is my cousin," Twilight barked, face redder than a Zebraik Lava Skipper.

"This is yer-"

I gasped for breath as her leg unraveled from around my neck. Screw ten years of military training, that bitch was strong!

"Didn't see that comin'," Applejack said rather feebly, pawing at the ground with a hoof. I could sense her embarrassment; she wanted to up and disappear.

"Neither did I," I choked out, rubbing my neck to get blood flowing back to my brain.

As soon as the last star faded from my vision, I lifted a hoof to Applejack, who bashfully bumped it with her own.

"Aural Blink."

"Sorry 'bout that," she said. "Ah'm Applejack, one o' Twilight's friends."

"Element of Honesty, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, how'd you guess?" she asked. I rolled my eyes.

"The six of you are on the visitor pamphlets for flights into the country," I joked. Applejack laughed. Good.

"Out of country, huh? So what brings ya here?"

"I'm looking to move into the area," I said coolly, having committed my excuse to memory.

"Well shoot, that's great! We could always use more... toned, stallions around own," she said, looking me up and down again. I cocked an eyebrow towards Twilight. She facehoofed.

"So Applejack, how are the preparations for the Great Apple Ball coming along?"

"We're a tad behind, honestly," Applejack sighed. "We just don't have the bodies to finish anything on time-"

A sonic boom cracked above our heads.

"LOOK OUT!" screamed a rather feminine voice.

Twilight and Applejack immediately dropped to the ground. I looked around like a moron, trying to find out what made the noise.

Suddenly, it hit me.


	4. Chapter 4

Just Blink

_Digital_Hex_

**Chapter Four**

_CRACK!_

I saw stars, and suddenly everything went black.

I half expected to be unconscious, but instead I was suddenly very warm, like a thick blanket had been tossed over me. A feathery blanket.

"Rainbow Dash!" came Twilight's muffled gasp. The blanket above me moaned and shuffled, flopping off of me. I stared wide-eyed into the sky, terrified to move.

"Sorry, Twilight," a voice sounded next to me. Must have been the blanket.

"It's not me you need to be apologizing to!" Twilight chided.

"What-" the voice started, but then was cut off. I assumed the owner (a she, it seemed) had finally noticed she FRAGGING TACKLED ME.

"Oh, sorry dude," she said, and suddenly I felt her helping me to my hooves. I turned to face her.

She was a cyan pegasus, with a wind-swept rainbow-hued main that was cut short and wild. Her tail was similarly colored, while her eyes were a deep rose, cerise.

"No problem," I huffed, brushing some dirt from my side.

"So, Twilight!" the pegasus- hadn't Twilight just called her Rainbow Dash?- Rainbow Dash said excitedly.

"Yes?"

"You promised I could teach you some flying tricks later, riiight?"

"Yes," Twilight said suspiciously, "I do recall..."

"And it's later, riiight?"

Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Yes, it is Rainbow Dash, but I'm busy at the moment showing Aural Blink here the town."

Rainbow Dash turned back to me, looking me up and down.

"Who is he, your coltfriend?"

Twilight and I both facehoofed simultaneously, groaning. How long would it take to explain this?

"No," I decided to tell her, "I am her cousin from Anville, over by the griffon kingdom."

"I didn't know you had an earth pony for a cousin!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, looking perversely excited. I cringed. I could feel Twilight do the same thing behind me.

My horn, as _compact_ as it was, was easily hidden within my mane.

"Thank you, Rainbow Dash," I said as I slumped. "I feel my soul dying a little bit more as we speak."

"What?" she asked as my spirit floated from my mouth. "What did I say?"

Twilight trotted over to me, using her magic to part my mane a little bit. There was my nubby little horn, the disgrace of me.

"That wasn't very nice, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said sternly.

"What?! I didn't see it!"

I shook once, twice, then remained still.

"Not like I'm self-conscious about it or anything, hehehe..." I mumbled, barely loud enough for the three mares around me to hear.

"Oh- oooh..." Rainbow Dash said, realizing what she'd said.

"Ya got to be a little more sensitive about those things, sugar cube," Applejack said as she and Twilight prodded me until I rose to my hooves.

"I'm... sorry?" Rainbow Dash said, obviously confused about what to say. She honestly hadn't known I was a unicorn.

"It's alright," I relented. "I get it more often than one would think."

I then stopped to think before turning to Applejack.

"Hold on- did you think I was an earth pony, too?"

"Well, ah, uh..." Applejack stumbled over her words, pretty much answering for herself.

"I didn't want to say anything!" she ended up revealing.

"Fair enough," I said, letting the incident run down my hide like a slimy- never mind. I decided in my mind that I needed to get a hair-cut soon. Having griffons not realize I was a unicorn until it was too late was one thing, but this... was just humiliating.

"So, anyways," Rainbow Dash jumped back in, "Let's go Twilight!"

With that, Rainbow Dash scooped up Twilight and blasted off straight up into the sky.

I barely had time to scoop my jaw up from the ground before Applejack decided to comment.

"That girl needs to slow down some times, I swear."

I assumed she was referring to Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah, well now I've completely lost my guide for the day," I grumbled as I returned to nibbling on my forgotten muffin. It was still delicious.

"Your guide? Oh, right, Twi was showing you 'round town, wasn't she?"

"Yep," I confirmed.

"Well, did she tell you 'bout the Great Apple Ball?" she asked excitedly. Jeez, were all of the ponies here this excitable?!

"She mentioned it briefly, something about... well, I don;t remember most of what she said about it, to be honest," I admitted.

"No problem, sugar cube. Y'see, the Princesses are big on these dances and the such, but they're tired of the lot from Canterlot always making it so... stiff."

I nodded. I'd been to Canterlot exactly... once, almost twelve years ago when I met a certain purple filly. The ponies there definitely seemed... stiff, to put it one way.

"And y'know how Twilight recently became an alicorn, obviously, so the Princesses decided to have a big 'ol dance here in Ponyville celebrating Twilight's recent- er, what's the word?"

"Ascension?" I guessed. Applejack nodded.

"Yeah, that one. Now, the only place in Ponyville really big enough for a big dance is the fields of Sweet Apple Acres, so that's where mah family comes in!"

"The Apple family?"

"Yessiree!"

"But I still don't get one thing," I voiced. "Why do the Princesses want to have the dance in Ponyville? And what is keeping the snobs from Canterlot away?"

"Ah, well y'see," Applejack explained, "Twilight would never have gotten to where she is today if she hadn't have come to Ponyville, or at least she says so- personally, ah think she would have gone done it anyways, but she insists it was us who helped her- so she wants to repay the town for helping her. So, the only ponies getting an invite are residents of Ponyville!"

She ended her explanation with a big grin on her face. It was scaring me slightly.

"Okaaay..." I said. "So... I'm guessing you have a lot of work to do, right?"

"Darn toot-in!"

I continued munching away on my muffin until it was gone. Applejack still had this expectant look on her face.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Alright, I'll cut to the chase," Applejack said. "Could you help out at Sweet Apple Acres 'til Twilight's done doin' her thing with Rainbow? It would be mighty appreciated!"

I considered the option. It _would_ be a neat, helping assemble a dance. Hey, I was seventeen years old and I'd never been to a dance before, so lay off me. I was perfectly aware of what symbolism dances carried. It wouldn't hurt to help out a little bit.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt-"

Applejack suddenly reared up on her back legs, whooping loudly.

"That's just great! Here, let me make sure Apple Bloom and Granny Smith are fine watching the stall for a little bit, then ah'll show you to the farm!"

With that, she trotted away back to the stall, where she began talking with an older green mare and a small, yellow filly with a red mane and a big bow in her hair. After conversing with them briefly, she rushed back over to me, she rushed back over, grabbing one of my hooves and dragging me behind her.

"C'mon!" she insisted, and I teleported beside her. It surprised her momentarily, but she took on a determined face and charged ahead.

A race, eh?

_It's on, girl,_ I thought as I picked up my pace, returning to her side. She was pouring out the strength, a wild smile across her face. I wasn't pressing myself all too hard, but what I wasn't feeling in my legs I was feeling in my lungs. I always felt my asthma rather quickly, but seeing as it hadn't actually hindered me since I was younger, it never really mattered. If anything, it drove me harder to succeed.

I overtook her, ending up in front. I looked back, wearing a smug grin, but I barely had time to see the edge of her tail disappear down a bend.

Then I realized, I had no idea where we were actually heading.

Growling to myself, I teleported back to where Applejack had turned, seeing her off a ways ahead of me. A quick blink later, we were once again neck and neck.

"Hey, no fair!" Applejack complained when she noticed I was back next to her. "Teleportin' is cheatin'!"

"And knowing the directions is a fair handicap?"

She smirked before she took off like a rocket, working her legs like pistons against the ground.

With only a tad more effort, as well as much more labored breathing, I kept pace.

We took a bending path, and before us I saw a big red barn and silo, with a nice two-story house out front. Homely.

Applejack's face was utter concentration and dedication. She wanted to win, badly.

Naturally, I bled forward dramatically, hopping the fence surrounding the house and even having enough time to catch my breath and lean against the house on an elbow in a completely cocky manner before she made it.

"You mad?"

She laughed, taking the defeat rather well.

"Well, I sure wasn't expectin' a unicorn to be built so... well, built in general. I think the only unicorn I've seen with more than a single slab of muscle on him was Twilight's brother, Shining Armor!"

"Well, seeing as he's the one who trained me, not too surprising!" I countered.

"That-" she started, but then stopped. "-actually makes sense, a bit."

I shrugged off what sounded like a subtle jab at me and turned to face the fields before me, ripe with full apple trees.

"So, what did you need me to help with?" I asked.

Suddenly, a heavy yoke was dropped over me and a firm swat at my backside delivered. I reared up on my back legs instinctively, whinnying in surprise before turning to glare at Applejack.

"Not. Funny."

"Was a little funny," she insisted, trying to contain a burst of laughter.

I looked over the heavy yoke over my shoulders. It wasn't heavy enough to cause serious discomfort, but...

"Why am I wearing this?" I asked. Meanwhile, Applejack was attaching a big plow to the back of it.

Oooh...

"Yeah, funny thing is, I'm not going to be able to pull this," I tried to explain to Applejack.

"Nonsense," she grunted as she hefted a thick strap over one of the pegs. "Even I can pull this, though not for long."

"No, I don;t think you understand. I'm built for running and... that's about it. Agility and speed, not... strength and endurance."

"I'm sure you'll do just fine!" she insisted as she finished attaching the heavy plow to my yoke. I could feel the strain the straps were already pulling against, and I hadn't even started moving yet!

This was going to be a long day.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

I fell into an exhausted heap the instant the yoke was lifted from my shoulders. I felt the stitches in my sides, the tearing pain in my lungs almost unbearable. My hide was dirty and drenched in sweat, and I had the aroma of a wild beast.

Applejack slapped my on the back, congratulating me on my work. I looked around me in my miserable state.

The entire southern field was plowed of all the dead crops the family hadn't been able to focus on. The huge plot of land was now bare and ready to be used for the ball two weeks off.

I was incapable of feeling joy in this. Applejack assured me that I had done well.

I didn't care. I hurt.

"Ah remember the first day ah wore mahself out that bad," Applejack reminisced, apparently feeling empathy towards my state.

"Had to spend a couple hours in the spring, ah was so tense!"

Somehow, I felt the energy to turn to her and utter a few words, barely a phrase. Actually, it was a single word, laced with desperation and hope. A word that would set my future on a peculiar path. Not a bad path, but not necessarily one I would have chosen right away. It was just, well... peculiar.

"Where," I croaked out.

Applejack pointed past the edge of the southern fields, towards the small peak of a rocky cropping that was on Ponyville's western edge.

"Just follow a little path that way for, er, ah'd say three miles. We've got a little shack built at the edge, and the spring's right past it! Ya might have to do a little climbin', though..."

Somehow, defying every and all laws of pain and tolerance that I knew of, I staggered to my hooves and made it to the edge of the field, disappearing into the brush.

Sure enough, there was a little trail. Key word here: trail. It couldn't have been used in years, it was so overgrown and tight. I almost got lost a couple of times, but after what felt likes hours (it was probably barely a half hour, actually) I fell out of the forest, cackling like a madcolt.

"HA! TAKE THAT, ACCURSED WOOD!"

I took in the scene before me. The rocky was before me was, unlike the forest I'd tore through, very clean and actually looked maintained. A tidy wooden shed stood before a path chipped into the rock, leading upwards a few stories before it looked like it evened out.

I peeked in the shed, seeing a few clean, pressed towels sitting neatly on a shelf, along with a rack for wet towels and an empty bin sitting atop a small stool. Homey.

Turning my view upwards towards the lip of a nearby ledge, I teleported up and almost fell straight into the steaming water. The cuts and bruises I'd earned while hacking and stumbling my way through the... forest would... disappear...

I facehoofed.

Why hadn't I just teleported to the shed in the first place?! Surely there were ways to have done so accurately, I was aware of a few very such measures at the moment! Why, I could have teleported straight up in the air and looked for the springs from there, teleporting straight to them! I could have even been teleporting paces in front of me along the trip, shaving not only time but energy and many scratches from my journey!

I sighed as I slipped into the blissfully warm water, the setting sun in the west making the water ripple gold.

The spring was actually pretty well designed, I doubted it was completely natural. The entire spring was facing north, with a perfect vantage both west and east. However, there was absolutely no wind. None at all. The lips of the spring were perfectly studded to block everything, and several draining pools held old leaves and even a few branches that had managed to end up in the spring.

The warm water was like heaven to me, soothing my body immediately. I could feel my muscles unclenching as I fell below the surface, closing my eyes and holding my breath. My mane floated lazily about me. I let my limbs sprawl out, just laying underneath the water, relaxing. I knew I only had a few minutes tops to enjoy the bliss, but what bliss it was.

Suddenly, the water rippled towards me, and I was vaguely aware of a muffled splash. Internally sighing, I carefully surfaced, not creating any ripples of my own.

Twilight was on the opposite side of the spring as me, back to me. She sighed heavily as she dipped herself into the spring, steam ruffing her coat.

I felt the blood rush to my face before I had the decency to realize what was happening.

She lowered herself down, down, under the surface of water before bursting from below, spreading her wings wide, stretching them in a rather compromising manner. Her wet mane clung to her face in some places, others it flung about in wet strands.

I had conflicting emotions as she arched her back before throwing it down, crackling her spine while quietly moaning. The blood was going to another head, if you catch my drift.

Finally, Twilight ended her unintentionally attractive showing and flopped into the water, leaning against the back of the spring and throwing her head back, tongue lolled out.

Well then, I guess she really liked hot springs.

Meanwhile, I was frozen in place, too petrified to move. Let's take a look at my situation as it ran through my mind at the time:

I had just watched my cousin provide a rather stimulating show of relaxing herself short of, well... the _other_ way.

I had no interaction with mares in the _other_ way, so I was naturally petrified.

I'd just gotten a boner over my cousin.

If I moved, I'd be discovered in all my glory.

I did not want to be discovered.

Don't move.

So that's how I remained, not breathing, my head barely breaking the surface of the water. After a few minutes, it felt like the blood in my head was starting to boil when Twilight turned, throwing her torso over the side of the spring and giving me a wonderful view of her flank, her wet tail dropped between her thighs. The stars on her cutie mark winked at me.

I tried to take a breath, but all I got was a mouthful of scalding water. And thus started the coughing. Trying to remain hidden resulted in me thrashing. As soon as I stopped breathing, my vision started getting black.

I sputtered for air, desperately trying to refrain from creating ripples in the water, but it was no use. My head was getting light. The heat was getting to me. Twilight had been smart in letting herself cool off, while I'd been in for twice as long and had spent most of the time fully submerged. Idiot.

The last thing I saw was Twilight look over her back, eyes half-lidded until she spotted me practically drowning. They shot open in surprise.

The blackness overtook me. It was a warm blackness.

Was it worth it, hiding from Twilight while she gave me that... show?

Even in my dream-like state, I had my answer.

Totally.


	5. Chapter 5

Just Blink

_Digital_Hex_

**Chapter Five**

Being unconscious is weird.

I've been unconscious before, but it never gets any easier to deal with. I suppose everypony has a different reaction to being unconscious. A lot of my fellow soldiers say that it's almost as if they close their eyes at one place and when they open them, they're somewhere else. Others say it's like a deep sleep, no dreams.

Me? I take a nice stroll down memory lane. I suppose I should be worried that this might be the fabled "life flashing before my eyes" spiel, but it never feels like some dramatic montage. No, it's just as I said before: a stroll.

This time, it was a flash-back to almost ten years earlier. I hadn't relived this particular instance in... quite a while, actually.

There I was, a tiny little unicorn, my mane long and unruly, with a quick curl at the end. I was still bruised from a few nights prior, a night that continues to haunt me.

I was sitting in a recruiting center in Anville, the only station in town. I knew the ponies there, notably the recruiter. He was a rather bulky unicorn stallion named Roadblock. A reasonable name, I supposed.

"Aural Blink!"

My small body turned to face the voice. It turned out to belong to Shining Armor, much younger. He was still in the early-recruitment officer training corps, the fancy school for the richer ponies.

I saw the tears well up in my eyes, I could feel the relief from seeing him. Even with the pain, though, the tears welled up but did not spill. I didn't shed a single one. Shining Armor rushed over to me, pulling me in a big hug.

"I heard what happened, I was- I was- I don't even know what I was, nor am!" he practically shouted. Roadblock had turned his attention to us.

"Did they... Did they really...?" Shining Armor asked. I nodded solemnly.

"My stars..." he gasped. "Even Dream?"

I felt a single tear roll down my face. I hadn't been strong enough to save her, I wasn't strong enough to even hold in a fragging tear. I could feel the spite for myself.

My response was a single shudder down my body. Shining Armor leaned in closer, holding me reassuringly. Protectively.

"I'm- I'm-" he tried to say, but I stopped him.

"Don't say it," I'd croaked out, my voice cracking.

"Everypony else has already said it, so please... just don't..."

Shining Armor sighed, nodding against me.

After a few minutes, he pulled away.

"So this is your answer?" he asked me, motioning to Roadblock. Well, he was really meaning joining the Equestrian Guard, but the symbolism wasn't lost on me.

"I'm not going to fail again," I'd spat out. "I'm going to get stronger! I swear!"

Shining Armor patted my shoulder reassuringly, smiling.

"Well, if this is what you want to do..."

"It is!" I assured him.

Roadblock then spoke up. "Alright, Blink. You're all set."

Levitating the papers he'd been reviewing, he tapped them against his horn and they disappeared in a small orb of energy, sent away to Equestria.

"Now to see what the princess thinks."

Roadblock leaned back in his chair, looking out the window between us. It overlooked the entire village and the bay. To the left, one could even see the charred remains of my old house...

"So why does the princess have to personally review me?" I asked Shining Armor. "You weren't any older than I am when you joined!"

"Actually," Shining Armor countered, "I was two years older than you are now. And secondly, I had my parents permission to join. You... well, seeing as this cannot happen, you have to get a royal waiver. Seeing as my family is technically the closest relation you have, we have full responsibility over you.

"However, seeing as you aren't in Equestria, the same rules as back home don't apply here. If we were in, say, Reindehoof, this would be much easier, as the laws there are much more explicit. But seeing as Anville is such a recent addition to Equestrian lands, and we are still trying to work out rights here, you require the explicit permission of the commander-in-chief of the Equestrian Guard."

"I still don't get why it takes so much trouble to let in one lousy colt," I huffed.

"Well, your asthma doesn't help," Shining Armor pointed out.

"Hey, I have it handled!" I yelled back.

"Neither does your lack of expertise in general magic." he continued.

"I'm good at teleportation spells..."

"Yes, and that coupled with your lack of a cutie mark might be what saves you. The princess is very considerate when it comes to new recruits. I'm sure you'll be accepted," he assured me.

"I hope you're right..." I sighed.

And thus we waited. Moments turned into minutes, minutes turned into hours. The sun was just beginning it's early decent when Roadblock's horn spat out a response.

Roadblock read over it once before his lips split into a massive grin.

"You're in, kid."

I could feel the relief I'd felt then. That moment, that moment then was possibly one of the most important moments of my life. I'm pretty big into the whole destiny thing, but I still wonder what might have happened if I hadn't made it, if I'd been rejected.

"Alright then," Shining Armor said, standing. "When will the airship be here?"

"Five minutes," Roadblock answered gruffly.

"Five?!" Shining Armor asked, startled. "they must have cleared you a while ago, then! Let's go!"

With that, Shining Armor grabbed my hoof and pulled me after him, darting out the door. In the distance, we could see the outline of the blimp in the distance.

"Why are we in such a hurry?!" I asked.

"If we're going to have any chance at making it to Fort Starswirl tonight, we need to leave as soon as possible! We can't travel there at night, and there's a storm heading this way, estimated to last upwards of a week. We need to hurry!"

Shining Armor and I flew through the buildings, climbing the many rocky hills that dotted the city. We were practically built upon a mountain, the village buildings connected by narrow walkways. There was still a few piles of snow that hadn't melted in the early summer sun. The same sun that was only going to be up for another hour at most.

"There, it's docking!" Shining Armor shouted. Sure enough, the dirigible had made contact and was waiting patiently at the docking station alongside the town's cliff-edge.

I cast a quick spell upon Shining Armor, locking my magic onto him.

"What are you-" he began, but was cut off a second later as I teleported both of us right onto the dock.

"-doing?" he finished before looking around, impressed. "You might just make it, kid."

He punched me lightly on the shoulder before tearing up the boarding plank, with myself close behind him.

"Alright, let's go!" he shouted, the boarding plank closing behind us. A moment later, the airship rocked back as we took off, heading for Fort Starswirl.

I got a quick look around the cabin. There was a green pegasus looking through some gear along a wall, along with another pony, although he was... a little different. For starters, he was huge. I mean huge as in I was surprised the airship could even hold him. He was ripped, huge slabs of muscle slapped to him all over. His coat was a deep, burnt orange, and he had a short crop of red hair. He was an earth pony, so his size wasn't all too surprising, but... well, it was still pretty surprising. He was massive!

"Ah, Shining Armor. Good ta see ya, lad!" the massive pony bellowed, throwing a huge hoof over Shining Armor's shoulders. Shining, having just hit his teens, was tiny compared to him.

"You too, Painful Authority!"

I watched as I rubbed my ears vigorously, making sure I heard that right. Did he just say Painful Authority? How did he end up with _that_ name?

"So, this be the boy, eh?" he asked, his Scandineighvian accent thick. He looked me over with his sharp yellow eyes.

"Yes, this is my second-cousin, Aural Blink. He's the newest recruit at the corps."

I did a double-take towards Shining Armor.

"Corps?! As in the officer training corps?!"

Shining Armor nodded.

"Whoa, whoa! I thought I was just going in as a regular soldier!"

Shining Armor chuckled lightly. The green pegasus I'd noticed earlier trotted over, holding a few rolled scrolls in his mouth. Shining Armor grasped one of them with hi magic, unfurling it and showing it to me.

"This is your test results from the Equestrian Vocational Aptitude Battery, particularly your Military Equivalence Score."

I looked at it, frowning. I'd remembered that stupid test from over a year ago, it'd seemed so easy.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Do you see your score?"

I looked at the scores. All across the board, they were in the 90's. My MES was a 97.

"Yeah, and the teacher had said that my score was bad."

"She did what?!" Shining Armor and Painful Authority cried out, falling backwards. The green pegasus rolled his eyes.

"This is how she explained it," I started, not realizing why they were so shocked. "If you got a one, then that meant that you were in the top one percent of that field. Isn't that how is works?"

"The opposite, actually," Shining Armor sighed, rolling up the paper. "It works just like any other test, Blink. You did extremely good on it."

"Yeah, but I didn't get a 100 on it..." I pouted.

"First off," Shining Armor began, "you can only get a 99 on it. Second off, this is meant for ponies my age, who haven't been able to find a job in their particular field due to their cutie mark, or want to do a civil duty and join the Guard."

"So...?" I asked him.

"Here's my test scores from last year," Shining Armor said, levitating both my scroll and a scroll with his results in front of my, right next to each other for easy comparison.

I outscored him in every category. His MES was a 93.

"And this is Painful Authority's from five years ago- wait, that means you need to take another one!" Shining Armor turned to yell at Painful Authority as he set the next scroll next to mine on the other side.

Again, I'd outscored him in every category, even more so than I had Shining Armor. Painful Authority's score was a 76.

"I still don't get what you're saying..." I said.

"What I'm trying to say is that you have the testing scores to get through the schooling portion of the academy easily."

"Wait, what academy!?"

"The Early-Recruitment Officer Training Corps academy, duh!"

"Who said I wanted to go there?!" I yelled. Shining Armor and Authority grew stern-faced.

"That's what we're here to ask," he started slowly. "You could do so much, you could go so far. Think of what you could accomplish, what you could do for our country. Officer training is going to be so easy for you, we just need to find a field for you. That's why we need you to decide, do you want to try this?"

"I was fine with just being another soldier," I huffed.

Shining Armor and Authority both gave big laughs. "Not with these scores you aren't. Do you realize what the average score is for the regular soldier?"

"No," I admitted.

"Thirty-nine. That's three points above the minimum to join. Trust me, this is obviously something you were meant to do."

I thought about it. This could definitely be... interesting.

"Will I be in charge of a bunch of other ponies?" I asked.

Shining Armor shared a quick look with Painful Authority.

"Depends. We do some cognitive tests and physical examinations when you get to the academy, so... we don't know. It all depends on what you're good at, what you can do."

I returned to thinking. It was definitely attractive, being an officer. Do remember, I was eight at the time in question, so all I thought of officers at the time was the ponies who talked with ambassadors from other countries and never got to see any of the action.

Boy was I wrong.

"I... I guess it could be cool," I said.

Painful Authority set a hoof on my shoulder, squeezing it firmly.

"Now listen here, boy. I know ya just got through a rough time, yer still goin' through it I'm sure, but ya need to grow up fast, ya hear? This isn't some game we're playin' here, this is serious. Do ya want ta become an officer, or not?" His voice was strong and firm, not friendly but not aggressive either. I'd heard this voice before, from my dad. This was an adult question he was asking me.

I took a deep breath, steeling myself. I looked straight into his eyes.

"Yes. I want to become an officer."

He cracked a big grin, taking his hoof off of my shoulder.

"Well then, I guess yer our newest recruit. From now on, ya shall address me as Captain Authority. This here isn't yer cousin anymore, it's First Lieutenant Armor. You are Cadet Blink. Are we clear, cadet?"

"Yes... sir?"

"Good," Captain Authority said, grinning. As he turned, I got a good look at his cutie mark: A crossed hammer and rail spike. Painful. Makes sense.

"Alright, get some rest. We'll wake you when we get to Fort Starswirl," Shining Armor told me.

I trotted over to a small wooden shelf with a pad on it, nestled into the wall of the cabin. I shuffled around for a minute before giving up, resting my head. I closed my eyes, and the next thing I knew, I was out.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"Blink..."

I groaned, my head feeling heavy.

"Bliiink..."

Why was I wet?

"BLINK!"

"AH!" I shouted, snapping up. I almost tumbled off the side of the spring wall- oh look, here we go.

I fell forward, the air whipping at my wet form. It took me a few seconds of screaming uncontrollably to remember I could teleport, and then I was back where I was, now falling back wards. I splashed unceremoniously back into the spring.

I thrashed around before feeling with my hooves that the spring was barely leg-deep in this section. I stood up, the water not even reaching my hocks.

"You okay?" Twilight asked me, looking at me with a face that was a cross between concern and fright.

"Yeah, I'm f-"

The memory of what had led up to me being unconscious fled through my mind, stopping me mid-sentence. I felt my face flush.

"Fine! Perfectly fine!" I said quickly, turning away from her. This was bad.

"Are... Are you sure? You were unconscious for a few minutes, I was afraid you'd drowned!"

"As I said, I am fine! No need to worry!" I said robotically.

"Al- alright..." Twilight said, and I heard her slip back into the water.

"How'd you find this place?" she asked me.

"Applejack told me about it, I've been helping her on the farm all day."

"Oh," she said, letting the conversation drop. Probably going back to enjoying herself. How much was she enjoying herself, though...?

A quick gust of wind managed to sneak it's way to me, ruffling my wet coat. I shivered in the breeze.

I slowly peeked over my shoulder. There Twilight was, her waist floating on the water towards me, her front legs spread against the spring, neck thrown back, wings splayed out-

My horn let out a few sparks. I snapped my head back furiously.

"You enjoy that?" Twilight laughed. I facehoofed.

"Of course not!" Then I realized my mistake. "Enjoy what, exactly?"

"Busted," Twilight cackled, flicking some water my way. I sighed, defeated. Like Hell I'd show her that, though.

"I have no idea what you are talking about. You are my cousin, there is no way I'd even think that."

"Ahuh," she said, disbelieving. "Think what, exactly?" I turned back, shooting her a glare. She was now sitting in the spring, giving me a smug look. Her wings were half-cocked.

"Alright, alright, I'm dropping it!" she said, shrugging.

"So, how'd you find this place?" I asked her as I trotted over to a deeper section of the spring, near the center. I could sit down and still have my head and half my neck above the water.

"Applejack showed it to me after my first winter wrap-up here. I've used it ever since."

"Winter wrap-up?" I asked. "What's that?"

I could feel Twilight lift an eyebrow at me from behind my back.

"You've never been a part of a winter-"

"I grew up mainly in Anville, and spent the rest of my life in the griffon kingdom and further east. They don't have whatever you're talking about over there.

"Oh, okay... well, Winter Wrap-up is-"

She then went on the explain exactly what winter wrap-up was. I should have taken notes, she was so descriptive. Here, each of the ponies had a specific part to play in cleaning up the town after the last snow of the season. Funny, everywhere else we simply let it melt away like normal folk. This country continued to surprise me... Yeah, that probably sounded treasonous since I was FROM said country. Too bad.

"So nopony moves the clouds in Scandineighvia?" Twilight asked me.

"Nope, they move on their own."

"And nopony cleans up all the snow?"

"Well, when there is too much snow and we need the snow moved for something important, then we do. Other than that, though, no. We let nature run it's course."

"That sounds..." Twilight thought a moment before finishing. "Illogical and uncalculated. It's uncanny."

"You know what it sounds like to me?" I asked. Twilight shook her head.

"Normal."

Twilight laughed. I didn't realize I'd made a joke.

"We have two very different ideas of normal, Aural Blink."

"You bet we do," I agreed.

We were now sitting a body distance away from each other, hanging our bottom legs over the spring. I looked up, leaning back on my front legs. The stars in the sky were beautiful.

I let my mind wander. The last time I'd just sat back and looked at the stars had been a while ago. It had been the last day of the academy, the day before I graduated. It had been a good day.

Looking back, today had been a pretty good day, too. I'd been given a by-the-book tour of Ponyville, had met a few of Twilight's friends, and had even gotten a good workout at the farm!

It was a good day.


	6. Chapter 6

Just Blink

_Digital_Hex_

**Chapter Six**

The night air was cool above the springs, steam hanging like a thick cloud. The sun had just set recently, so Twilight had conjured up a few balls of light that floated over the springs. We were wading in the spring's warm waters, enjoying the comfort.

"So how was Applejack?" Twilight asked me out of the blue.

I cast her a look.

"Like, what's my take on her?"

"Yeah," she said.

"She seemed..." I thought back to my long day of work. She was a hard worker, I'd seen that much. She really loved her home and job. She was strong, had a good build, had some very nice curves-

I coughed, blushing.

"She was nice enough. Really loves the place, I noticed, very passionate."

"That's Applejack for you," Twilight agreed. "She's living her dream, why wouldn't she be? This is where she belongs."

"Mhm..." I mumbled.

Silence surrounded us again. Off in the distance, we could hear a bird cry through the night. The leaves of trees rustled below the edge of the spring. It was peaceful.

"What about Rarity and Rainbow Dash? I know you didn't really get to meet them, but what about them? They're some of my best friends."

I thought back. Rarity had seemed rather... interesting, to say the least. My guess was she was of a rich, snooty background. But that didn't really seem to fit; she was friends with Twilight, and there was no way that Twilight could be friends with a rude pony. I'd have to get a second take on her.

Rainbow Dash seemed to be the opposite of Rarity. I'd known been in the company of Rainbow Dash for all of a minute, and I had a pretty good idea of her. Tom-boyish, not only from her voice but from how she acted, how she presented herself. She was brash, aggressive, blunt, but she apparently cared for her friends. She'd been wanting to practice flying with Twilight, and had jumped on the chance. I could only find one word to define what she was: loyal to a fault.

I had my own stereotypes of them, but I'd learned a long time ago that it was best not to judge others without giving them a chance to prove themselves.

"I don't know yet. Like you said, I barely met them."

"Fair enough," Twilight said. Silence overtook us for a time.

A frog croaked nearby. Turning, I looked at it. It was a green forest frog, sitting on the warm stone surrounding the springs. I doubted it would jump into the spring, but it seemed to enjoy the heat of the rock surrounding the water.

"You know, Rainbow Dash was asking about you."

I was perplexed, to say the least. I was surprised, to put it bluntly. I was shocked, to put it honestly.

To put it simply, I did not expect this.

"Oh?" I asked. I pictured Rainbow Dash in my mind. The cyan pegasus was... winged? I really didn't know enough about her to have a good idea of what to imagine her like.

"Yeah, she seemed to be rather... interested." She chuckled evilly.

"You seem to enjoy this bit of taboo knowledge," I scoffed.

"What can I say, this is the first time that Rainbow has ever showed any interest in a stallion that i_sn't_ Soarin."

"And Soarin is..?" I asked.

"You can't be-" She then remembered where I'd been for the past forever. "Oh, right. Soarin is a Wonderbolt, which is a group of hyper-popular stunt pegasi. They're pretty good, having shows here and there."

"Sounds dreamy," I commented, slipping into the water slightly. This Rainbow Dash character, she must have idolized him.

"She idolizes him," Twilight informed me. Figures.

"That's nice," I said. My legs were now fully submerged.

"Yeah, she-" Twilight began, but suddenly stopped.

I waited for her to continue, but she made no intention of finishing her thought.

"Everything good back there?" I asked, turning. She was looking directly at me, a curious look on her face.

"Yeah, just- turn back around."

"What?" I said, cocking an eyebrow.

"Turn back around," she commanded me.

"Okay..." I said, returning my gaze back to the frog. It croaked as my eyes settled back on it.

I waited. A few minutes clicked by, and she hadn't said anything.

"So, see anything that strikes your fancy?" I asked her.

"Did you always have this mark on the back of your head?" she asked me.

"What mark?" I asked, now slightly concerned.

"I'll take that as a no..." she commented. A quick flash of light erupted from behind me, and then Twilight levitated a suspended field of magic before me. It was an image of me sitting in the water, from behind- she'd taken a picture of me! I was about to ask what she was showing me, but then I saw it. A small circular mark below my right ear, almost hidden by my mane and only a few shades darker than my coat. It was easy to miss.

"No, never seen that before," I said, trying to get a closer look at it.

"It looks like a hex of some sort," she said.

"Like a curse?" I asked.

"Kind of," she explained. "It's a physical latch on something using magic, usually to create a catalyst for a complicated spell."

"Huh, that's weird," I said, suddenly very interested in the frog. This was bad.

I knew exactly how I got this. The feeling of Marelin's magic washed over me again, making me shiver. This was very, very bad.

"You have no idea how you this?" Twilight asked me from behind.

I made a quick evaluation of my choices. I only had two.

I could tell Twilight everything, tell her about Marelin and the threat she had hanging on Twilight, tell her exactly why I was in Ponyville. I could reveal the entire situation to her right now. Surely I couldn't be blamed if it were a matter of such importance, right?

Or...

"Nope," I lied. "Never realized I had it. Might have had it for a while. In fact..." I then launched into a grand tale of when I was stuck in a manticore pit a few years back, having to fight my way through them to get to a demented Zebraik witch doctor. A story that started off true, but ended with yet another lie.

"-and I probably got it then," I finished. I desperately hoped she would fall for my lie.

A few seconds passed before I heard her flick her hair out of her face.

"Alright. Let me know if something happens to it, or something like that. Make sure it doesn't change shape, size, or start throbbing unbearably. Oh, I want to do some tests on it so bad!"

I was about to tell her off, but she actually interrupted herself.

"Buuut, my friends tell me that I shouldn't be putting everypony through those tests, so I wont. Just... keep an eye on it, 'kay?"

"Alright," I said.

We remained in the spring for quite a while longer until I finally decided to get out.

"I'm heading back to the library, what about you?" I asked Twilight.

"I'm going to stay out here a bit longer," she said while looking up at the night sky. I also looked up. The sky was beautiful. I always was a sucker for a good view.

"Alright, I guess I'll see you in the morning," I said as I shook myself dry. A quick teleportation spell later, and I was in the center of the library. It was an easy task to teleport to somewhere I'd already been, given it was in the same general area as where I originally was. Seeing as the library was in the center of town, it was only about ten or so miles, a quick jump for me. Now, cross-country jumps... those take quite a bit out of you.

Spike was already asleep, or at least wasn't downstairs so I assumed he was in bed. I trotted into the kitchen and opened the fridge, searching through the delectable innards of the cold storage until I found what I was looking for: a pitcher of orange juice. Grabbing the handle with my teeth, I set it on the counter and got myself a glass, pouring a cup of the orange goodness.

After my meticulous series of actions, the pitcher of orange juice was safely returned to the inside of the refrigerator, and I had a delicious cup of orange juice. Downing the drink, I decided to turn in for the night.

Once in the room, I repeated the spell I'd seen Twilight perform to light the candles. It took just a second, and suddenly there was a clean, bright flame in the candle next to the door. It was pretty awesome, really.

I pulled myself onto the bed and grabbed my bag, unloading the contents. The book landed on it's cover, the charge cuffs falling on top of it while my bag of bits flopped out last. I moved the bag of money to the bedside table, adding the cuffs to them a moment later. I was left with the book.

Opening it up, I flipped to my least favorite page: levitation. I read the passage, committing it to memory. I'd read this passage so many times before, I already memorized more than half of the words on the page.

I read each step-by-step instruction on the basics of casting the spell, studying them. Finally, I decided to try out the spell.

I reached out with my magic, grabbing one of the cuffs from the table. My magic enveloped it faintly for a moment, allowing me to lift it maybe a hoof's distance before my magic sputtered out, dropping the cuff.

I frowned. This happened with pretty much all of my physical magic. Sure, I was excellent at teleportation, and elemental spells came easier to me than to some, but I was horrible at physical magic. Telekinesis was not going to come easy.

Flopping backwards onto the bed, I groaned in disappointment. I'd been studying up on that spell the entire train ride, too! Why was it so difficult to perform this simple spell?! Telekinetic abilities were usually one of the first range of spells young foals learned, but I still could barely perform them better than I could _as_ a foal!

Glaring up, I rolled onto my side, letting my gaze shift back to the cuffs.

_Screw what the book says,_ I thought. _Just cast the fragging spell!_

I closed my eyes and sent all of my magic into my horn, reaching blindly. I didn't try and direct my energy like the book had said, I simply let it go.

I heard the _THUNK_ of heavy metal hitting heavy wood. Opening my eyes, the cuff was gone.

I sat up and peered over the side of the bed. I could barely make out the sight of the cuff resting on the floor...

… On the opposite side of the table. I'd _pushed_ the cuff away from me instead of picking it up!

"AH!" I groaned in frustration.

Closing my eyes, I decided to just go to bed. I put out the candles, and slowly I settled into a restless sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Just Blink

_Digital_Hex_

**Chapter Seven**

_"Now son, don't go past the last flag at the edge of town. Past there are the feral griffons. They aren't like us, they don't like ponies. Can you promise me you won't go past the last flag?"_

I wish I'd listened to my dad.

I was in another of my lucid dreams, my memories. For a pony who wanted to forget them as much as I did, I sure remembered my past pretty well.

And there I was, passing the last flag of the town. Anville was small, built on the side of a mountain, and there were warning flags surrounding the town, in three circles. The first, smallest circle of red flags was actually still inside the town, and the flags had torches on them for airships to find the docks that were at the termination of the town.

The second ring was the green flags, which ringed the actual town limits. They were pretty self-explanatory.

The third ring, though, were the blue flags that marked the furthest possible expansion point of the city, defense-wise and structure-wise. The town defense couldn't see anything past the blue flags, especially the woodlands to the west of the town. It was a thick forest that swept down the west side of the mountain. Many said there was a gang of feral griffons and other beasts that lived in there, waiting to each little children that wandered in. I figured this was just a little fairy tail meant to scare the foals from venturing in.

This was true, to an extent. If only I'd known that the feral griffons weren't so... feral.

There was a small path in the northern part of the town, hidden behind some of the buildings pressed up against the mountains that actually went _under_ part of the town, making for a hidden secret passageway. I was the only one to know it existed, as I was the only colt small enough yet adventurous to follow it.

I watched my small, immature form squeeze in, sliding down the gravelly path until I popped out on the other side of the large cliff in the northwest corner of the town. The forest stretched before me. I cast one look back, and off I went.

If I could have screamed at myself, I would have.

The dream opened up before me, almost like a horror movie that you've seen before. I knew every step that I was taking, as I'd taken them before. On and on, through the forest I marched, until I was outside of the den to Hell.

Inside, I could hear the sounds of cackling griffons, one of the bands that made residence inside of the woodlands. In that moment, I realized that the stories were true.

This wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't heard them talking with somepony. It was a deep, feminine voice.

_"Yes, I saw a young filly in town, surely she would be a great catalyst. Her body would be... perfect for the spell."_

_"And you expect us to just go in, nab the bitch, and not have any fun?!" _An older griffon barked.

_"Don't worry, you may take her as a reward- and yes, I mean it. Do what you wish, but she must be breathing by the time you bring her to me."_

_"Got it, boss. So, when do we head out?"_

_"Now."_

Instantly, dozens upon dozens of griffons burst from the top of the den, spilling into the sky. They swooped back down, hugging the tops of the trees so they wouldn't be spotted as easily from town.

I was frozen in place, but what followed was what frightened me to this day.

_"So what's she look like, anyways? How will I know which one to nab?"_

_ "She's a young filly, no cutie mark. Her coat is a dark shade of purple, with a snow-white mane."_

My heart, beating at hyper-speed a split second early, stopped. Just, stopped.

_"She answers to Dream."_

The next second, it was dark outside. In reality, I'd blacked out, but this was a dream so I couldn't really black-out then, could I?

I watched myself teleport back, making short rapid-fire blinks forward. As I got closer to town, I heard the screams of ponies, the crackling of flames. Something bad had happened, something very bad.

I followed the secret tunnel back up, not wanting to be caught. As soon as I returned to the surface, I saw what I'd been hearing.

Dead ponies and griffons littered the ground, slung across the road and spiked on rocks jutting from the ground. A few houses were on fire, but were being put out by some of the survivor ponies. There were still screams, but they were from further in town. I rushed towards my house, which was the closest to the western wall bordering the woodlands.

I was stopped before I got there by a guard I recognized that worked with my dad.

_"Aural Blink, where were you!"_ he cried, eyes wide in fear.

_"I was... hiding,"_ I lied, not understanding quite what was going on. Hey, the lie made sense to me at the time; surely, anypony would be hiding from whatever was going on.

_"What happened?" _I asked him.

_"Your dad was stationed at the west wall, standing guard. I guess your mother sent him out to find you. Then-"_

Suddenly, a huge explosion rocked the entire mountainside, a huge pillar of flame rocketing up. I knew where it was coming from. My house.

I teleported towards my house, charging forward. The griffons had demolished the western wall, tearing a giant hole in the wooden palisades. They'd rearranged them as a barrier blocking access to my home, which was half alight with flames. Guards were fighting griffons one-on-one on both sides of the palisades, but we weren't making any progress towards the house.

I blinked past the combat, reaching the house unnoticed. The windows were all boarded up from the inside, the thatched roof on fire with an ethereal flame I knew to be magic.

Blinking inside, I slipped as soon as my hoof touched the floor. I came crashing to the wooden flooring. I groaned, rubbing my hoof on my head. It left a slick smear on my head. I pulled it away to see it was blood.

I shrieked, stumbling backwards into something soft and warm.

I craned my head slowly to the side, locking eye-to-eye with the stallion I was leaning into.

_"D-dad..."_ I choked.

He was dying, almost dead. His chest was torn apart. My mom was crumpled behind him, either unconscious or a corpse.

_"Blink... where were you..."_ he asked slowly, breathing hard for him. He was going to slip any second.

_"I- I was in the woods! What happened!"_

_"I told you not to do that, son. I went to... look for you. Your mother was worried. I must have left the wall unwatched too long, they must have... saw it. I-"_

His eyes suddenly bugged out, and he went still. I was still waiting for him to finish his sentence when he passed. It took me almost a full minute to realize he was never going to speak to me again.

_"Dad... DAD!" _I cried, rubbing my face into his dirty, sooty mane.

_"What was that?"_ I heard the raspy growl of a griffon down the hall, in the kitchen.

I gulped before teleporting up, into the room I shared with my sister.

I shouldn't have.

I saw her, white mane pulled up by a griffon's claws, her back legs pulled apart so they could violate her that much easier. Her purple coat was covered in many bleeding nicks and bruises.

_"D-Dream..."_

It took the griffons in the room a split second to look away from their perverted act and seize me.

_"DREAM!" _I screamed, punching and squirming as they grabbed me. I tried to teleport away, but my rapid teleporting from early meant I was too low on magic. I was never very good at storing a lot of magic, or keeping a lot on me.

_"Look at this, the little guy knows the bitch!"_ The bigger griffon, the one mashing his hips into my sister's, croaked in glee. I locked eyes with my sister. I saw the fear, the pain, the torment she was going through. I could even see the life starting to drain from her eyes.

_"It's going to be okay, Dream! We'll get out!"_ I shouted, still struggling. This elicited a laugh from the griffons. The one who was holding me slashed down, trying to silence me. All he managed to do was slice a clean rip in my leg.

I knew that without magic, I was powerless. I had to act.

My mind went on auto-pilot. I remembered a spell my dad had taught me when I was younger, about siphoning magic from others. I cast out a net, looking for any magic in the area. Surprisingly enough, my sister hadn't used any magic at all. I then saw why.

They'd broken her horn.

I cringed before plunging my aura into the weeping appendage, linking my mana pool with hers. A stream of magic strung itself between our horns. A moment later, I had enough energy to perform a single spell.

A single spell was all I needed.

I closed my eyes, and we disappeared from the room, the both of us.

We popped back on the far side of town, on a narrow strip of land that nopony had built on and had no road attached to it, near the north-east of the town.

I walloped in joy. We were safe! We'd made it! We were free! We both flopped onto the dirt of the ground, laying there for a few moments. I was steadily beginning to feel better, much better in fact.

"We're free, Dream! We made it!"

I turned to see Dream looking at me with a sense of relief. We were alive. She opened her mouth to say something, but her eyes suddenly darted to pinpricks. Something was still wrong.

I hadn't dropped the spell. I lifted my leg to my eyes to see as my body began using the magic to heal myself. The hide and flesh on my leg slowly began stitching itself together until it was gone completely.,

I looked back to Dream. She looked like she was going to be sick. She still was trying to say something.

"Y-you said you were going to s-save me," she whispered as she collapsed to one hoof.

"S-so why do I-"

That's when her horn imploded into her face, severing the connection between us. I was showered in a torrent of her blood as her body keeled forward.

_"Dream!"_

Hours passed before anypony turned away from the battle raging along the house to see us, and all of the griffons in the house and defending it were slaughtered. All of them.

I spent the entire time weeping over the body of the sister I'd never see again.

. . . . . . . . . .

"That is... tragic, we must say."

I looked up. Blackness surrounded me, and I seemed to be floating.

"I'm still in my dream, aren't I?" I said, hanging my head in defeat.

"Yes, we are... apologetic to what you have been through."

I looked around.

"Who's talking to me? Who are you?"

"Ah, my apologies," said the voice, and suddenly I was sitting in a small pool of light. Another pool of light appeared a few paces away from me, and I was rather surprised by who I saw.

It was fragging Princess Luna.

. . . . . . . . . .

A/N: This was a very difficult chapter for me to write, so please respect it. Also, if you would like to view a picture (crappy quality, though) of my vision of Anville, please check out my deviantart account or view this story on fimfiction, where the picture is included in the chapter.


	8. Chapter 8

Just Blink

_Digital_Hex_

**Chapter Eight**

"Princess... Luna?"

"Yes, it is us."

"How are you... in my dream?"

Luna looked as though she suddenly remembered something very important.

"Ah, our sister allows us to use our dreamwalker spell. We wander the dreams of ponies, learning what we can from their ambitions and their fears."

"And how is that of any importance to you two?" I asked.

"It is unknown to us exactly what our sister wishes to learn from our adventures, but as for ourself, we wish to learn how others confront their fears in their own dreams."

It took me a few seconds to connect the drops.

"So... you have nightmares as well?"

"Yes, we do," Luna sighed. "We have had them quite frequently since we returned from our banishment."

"Oh right, I'm sorry about that. It must have sucked, being trapped up there for a thousand years."

"It is in the past," Luna said, finishing the conversation. "But as for you..."

I shuffled uncomfortably. I didn't like talking about my past with anypony. I lied to keep all of it bottled up, or at least away from people who didn't care either way.

"How do you plan provide security to the Princess Twilight Sparkle if you are plagued by these nightmares?"

I was actually rather surprised by her question.

"Come again?"

"We said-"

"No, I get what you were saying," I interrupted her, "but you aren't going to go off about how everything is going to be okay, baby me and victimize me about what happened?"

"As we said," Luna said, "it is in the past. Why do you wish to relive it?"

"I don't," I said, growling at myself. I realized it looked as though I was growling at Luna herself.

"Sorry," I apologized. "It's just, everypony always wanted to keep apologizing that everything was going to be okay, that it wasn't my fault. But it was. It was all my fault." I felt a tear break through my eyelids. Stupid dream tears.

Luna looked on.

"Tell us, do you feel this way about all of the griffons that you have killed, about the enemies to the Equestria that have died by your hoof?"

I look at her, shocked.

"Wha- no! They had it coming! I feel nothing for their lives," I growled.

Luna sighed.

"Perhaps you would relieve yourself of these nightmares if you learned to confront your own fears."

"Fears? Ha! I have none," I laughed bitterly.

"Then why are you so afraid to admit that you aren't truthful to yourself?"

I gave her a look.

"Excuse me?"

"Our sister has explained your history to us, especially on how dependable a soldier you are. You seem to dislike killing, but when it comes down to it, you have absolutely no problem with it. Why are you afraid to admit that you enjoy it?"

"I don't enjoy it!" I countered. "They have it coming!"

"Oh, so if they deserve to die then you are to be their executioner?"

"If it so be," I muttered.

"We understand where your hatred for the griffons comes from, and we understand that you are upset with yourself for holding such rage against another species, but you must accept that the rage is there and grow from there instead of trying to distance yourself from every event that goes by."

"But I don't care!" I shouted. "If they must die, then I am doing my job by finishing them!"

"Then why show hesitation beforehand? Why do you try to refrain from killing in the first place?"

"That's because-" I started, but I stopped myself. Why did I try and refrain from killing if I was so convinced it was necessary? Why was I so bothered by the thought of it, but had absolutely no problem with actually doing it.

"It's because you enjoy it. Because you feel as though you are making up for that night."

I sighed, hanging my head limply.

"... Isn't that right?"

I nodded shamefully. It all made sense. I'd always tried to push it away from my mind, and now was the first time I actually let myself stop and think about it. I was trying to run away, trying to take out my anger for that night on the griffons and anypony that stood in my path.

"It is alright."

I looked up, cocking an eyebrow at Luna.

"How is it alright?"

"Because you are admitting it now."

And with that, I woke up

. . . . . . . . . .

I blinked as I woke up, rubbing my eyes. My internal clock said it was some time after eight. Groaning, I threw myself out of bed, stretching my stiff legs as I stumbled up the stairs. I spent too long in the spa with Twilight.

Heading into the kitchen, I found Spike reading a cook book.

"What'cha making, squirt?" I asked Spike as I grabbed an apple from a fruit basket, sitting down at the table.

"Twilight was feeling really sore from her flying practice with Rainbow Dash yesterday, so I'm making her some soup."

"Why soup?" I asked him.

"I don't know, she just said she wanted soup!" he said, suddenly extremely jittery, almost as if he was scared Twilight was going to barge down and question why it was taking too long.

"Mmm, I see." I said, not really seeing anything but at the same time letting him return to making the simple soup. I don't know why he needed a cook book for it, but oh well. He was a baby dragon, after all.

A sudden knocking on the front door grabbed my attention.

"Can you get that?" Spike asked. "I need to finish this!"

I slid from my chair and trotted over to the door, opening it up to reveal a rather skinny black stallion, with a wispy head of transparent-silver mane and almost white eyes. He had on a slight smirk until he saw me, in which it changed into a quick frown. I didn't like him instantly.

"Is Twilight Sparkle home?" he asked me. "And more importantly, who are you?"

"I'm her cousin," I started, "And she'd busy at the moment." I leaned against the door frame as he scowled at me. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"I suppose I could leave it with you, if you're just her cousin." He reached back and removed a small envelope from some black saddlebags that I hadn't even noticed he was wearing. He was that skinny. Dang son, eat some food!

He passed the envelope to me, which I flicked up with a quick burst of magic, catching it neatly in my teeth.

"Haff a nife day," I said before promptly closing the door in his face. I enjoyed that part.

Tossing the letter onto the table, I took a glance at it. A simple yellow envelope, with Twilight's name written carefully on the front. Interestingly bland.

"What's that?" Spike asked me, coming out of the kitchen with the bowl of soup on a tray. I had to say, the soup looked... picture perfect?

"An envelope for Twilight, some guy just dropped it off."

"Ahuh," he said, eying it curiously before shrugging it off and beginning to climb the stairs. "I'll let her know she has a letter."

I nodded and prepared to return to the kitchen when there was another knock on the door.

Sighing, I answered it to find Rainbow Dash hovering outside.

"Twi- oh, Blink. Uh, hi?" she said, trying to look past me into the library, avoiding eye contact with me.

"Hey Rainbow Dash, what's up?"

"Nothing, but where's Twilight?" she asked, sounding somewhat nervous yet aggressive at the same time.

I eyed her suspiciously. "She's upstairs, in bed. Apparently you were rather relentless with her yesterday, so she doesn't feel well."

"Oh," she stated bluntly. "And here I was thinking she could handle it!"

"Guess you were wrong," I said, chastising her. Suddenly, Spike ran down the stairs.

"Blink! You've got to help me!" he plead desperately, literally throwing himself at my hooves.

"Oh?" I asked as I raised the leg he was grasping, holding him aloft and dangling from my appendage.

"Yes! Twilight needs some things from town, but she needs me to do all of the chores around the library at the SAME TIME! Something about being more efficient! I don't even know how it makes sense!"

"So..."

"Can you get the stuff she needs from town while I clean the library? Pleeeaaase?" he begged.

I sighed in immediate defeat. I hate kids, especially sad, begging kids.

"Fine. Give me the list."

He quickly shoved the list towards me and pushed me out the door, into Rainbow Dash.

"Okaythanksbye!" he said quickly before slamming the door shut.

"... What just happened?" Rainbow Dash asked, still body-to-body with me.

"I don't know," I said as I teleported a short distance away from her. "But I might as well get everything on the list. It wouldn't hurt to do a little shopping, right?"

I took the list and snapped it out, expecting a relatively compact scroll to unfurl. Instead, I was surprised to see a couple paces of parchment roll out, all scrawled on in small font.

"... This might take a while."

Rainbow Dash dropped to the ground, looking over the middle of the list.

"I know where some of the stuff here is," she said. "I could show you around, if you want. Point you where you can find the stuff."

"I don't know," I said, thinking.

"Hey, it's a simple question," she said, suddenly rather aggressive. "Either take my help or leave it, I'm just trying to be nice."

I grinned. Short and to the point, I liked her already.

"Well if you're offering, then sure thing."

She lit up, returning to the sky before dropping down to hover next to me.

"Alright, first place to stop is..." she said as she scanned the top of the list.

"Sugar Cube Corner!"

Her smile suddenly dropped.

"Oh no."

"Oh no?" I asked, suddenly very worried. "Why oh no?"

"Because Sugar Cube Corner means..."

She looked around dramatically, as if she was looking for somepony.

"Pinkie Pie."

She paused for dramatic effect before cracking into a grin.

"Is that supposed to mean something?" I asked her.

"You'll see," she said before taking the lead in front of me, heading further into town.

"You'll see..."


	9. Chapter 9

Just Blink

_Digital_Hex_

**Chapter Nine**

"So where are you from?" Rainbow Dash asked as we made our way through town. She was pumping her wings slowly, matching pace with me. I was so jealous of her for those appendages, they looked fragging awesome.

"Anville," I said. "It's not in Equestria, it's-"

"In the griffon kingdom, I've heard of the place."

I raised an eyebrow. "_You've_ heard on Anville? You don't exactly seem like a geographically literate mare, no offense."

"Hey, I'm allowed to know stuff!" she shot back, almost hurt. "And I happen to have heard it from my friend Gilda, she just so happens to be a griffon herself!"

"Then that feathery bi-" I began, but stopped myself short of blatantly insulting Rainbow's friend. I stomped along silently, fuming to myself. Maybe Luna was right, maybe I did have a problem with griffons.

"What do you know about Anville?" I asked her.

"Just that it's a small little outpost of a town in the northern part of the country."

"Sounds about right," I commented. "What about you? Are you from around here?"

Rainbow Dash shook her head side to side. "Nope, I'm from Cloudsdale. I moved here a while back, though, and I definitely consider Ponyville as my home."

"Must be nice, being able to call somewhere your home," I muttered under my breath. Thankfully, Rainbow Dash didn't seem to notice I'd said anything.

We trotted along like that in silence for a little bit until Dash pointed out our destination: a building that literally looked like a fragging gingerbread house. It was deliciously disturbing. We made our way over, but was cut short as a young colt suddenly burst from the building, a tiny white stallion with a wild green mane. He scrambled from the door, shouting out one word as he tore down the street.

"CROOOSSSSS!"

I raised an eyebrow. Rainbow just shrugged.

I cautiously opened the door, peeking inside. It was bland, having just a front counter wish a display case faced with glass inset in it. Nopony was inside.

"Hellooo?" I called in cautiously before stepping a single hoof over the threshold. The second my hoof touched the floor, all Hell broke loose.

"SURPRIIISE!" A high-pitched voice called from right above me. I fell to my side, refusing to react more than that in fear of hurting somepony. That didn't stop me from shrieking at the top of my lungs.

"WHAT THE BUCK WAS THAT?!"

I can handle being tortured by griffons and worse, but two days and I was already going to have to start monitoring my heart rate. I stared above me, where a pony clad in a form-fitting black jumpsuit was dangling above the doorway. A thick poof of pink mane protruding from the front of the face opening was enough to fill my mental bubble of who she was.

"Pinkie Pie?" I asked. She nodded eagerly, blinking her large blue eyes.

"What was that?" I asked again. She cocked an eyebrow, then snapped to attention when she realized what I was talking about.

"Oh, that?" she said, her voice barely muffled from the cloth covering her mouth. "This is your surprise party! So... Surprise!" She emphasized her point by waving her hooves around the room. This resulted in her falling right onto my midsection, her hoof connecting with my stomach. Painfully.

In my agonizing pain, I looked around the, er... empty room.

"Er, Pinkie?" I coughed out. She sat down on my stomach and cocked her head to one side, waiting for me to continue. I rolled my eyes, which were currently bulging out of my head.

"Could you get off of me?" She wasn't fat, but damn she wasn't light!

"Oh, sorry!" Pinkie Pie said as she crawled off of me, then offered to pull me up. I refused her hoof respectfully, instead blinking back to my hooves.

"Secondly," I continued, "this is a party?" I asked. We were surrounded by... a whole lotta nothing. Lots of it.

"Weeell," Pinkie Pie began, "I wooould have had a much bigger party prepared, but I only knew that you were going to be here because Digit appeared this morning and the only reason that he would have appeared here was if something really bad was going to happen and if something really bad was going to happen then you were going to have to be here to stop it so I knew that you were going to be here but that was only like two minutes ago tops so I did the best I could but I hope you like it anyways and LOOK BAGUETTES!" she ended while shoving a bouquet of baguettes in my face.

I was still trying to comprehend what she was talking about when Rainbow Dash set a hoof on my shoulder.

"Yeah, I don't know what she's talking about half the time either," she said while touching down next to Pinkie, wrapping her in a tight hug, both of them smiling huge grins.

"But that's why I love her!"

I raised an eyebrow. "oh?"

Rainbow Dash too cocked an eyebrow, not understanding what I meant until 3... 2... 1-

"That's not what I meant!" she shouted angrily, whacking my upside my head. "She's one of my best friends, you turn-signal."

"Ahuh," I muttered, rubbing the side of my head.

Pinkie Pie opened her mouth to say something, but suddenly her eyes lit up and she rushed out of the room, only to return a split second later with a pig bag of... stuff.

"Oh yeah, Rainbow Dash! Twilight is probably waiting for this stuff! Can you get it to her? Please? Pretty please?"

I flicked up the bag with a quick but exerting levitation spell and caught the handle with my teeth.

"Will do," Rainbow Dash said as we left, waving to the strange pink pony within.

"Fwat was shat avout?" I tried to say through the bag, but it wasn't working very well. Rainbow noticed and grabbed the bag from me, setting it on my back.

"What was that about?" I asked her.

"What, Pinkie? That's just how she always is."

"Ahuh," I said as we passed by a park. While we were walking by, I saw the white colt from earlier, sitting next to the single tree in the park. He was looking at the tree with a strong focus.

"Hold this for a second," I told Rainbow Dash while passing her the bag before I took off towards the colt.

"Hey!" I called out to him. He turned to me, and I saw his eyes. They were charcoal black, with pink irises. I remembered seeing those eyes before, but where...

I snapped back to reality as I saw the colt turn tail and run. I didn't bother chasing him.

"You alright?" Rainbow Dash asked me as I returned to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I lied. "Let's go."


	10. Chapter 10

Just Blink

_Digital_Hex_

**Chapter Ten**

"Well..." I trailed off on a tangent as Rainbow Dash and I trotted down the road, Rainbow deciding to join me on hoof this time. "That was... random. And quite honestly, a tad creepy."

"What, Pinkie Pie or that colt you were disturbingly interested in?" Rainbow Dash asked me as she lifted an eyebrow, peering at me suspiciously. I rolled my eyes.

"I'll go ahead and just say both," I grunted as I pulled out the list with a lengthy flick of my horn, trying to get used to using the spell. It was still just as difficult as it always had been to use levitation spells, which made me grimace as I scanned down the page. I was barely aware of the sun climbing higher into the sky, slowly making it's way towards noon.

Letting my eyes rest on the next line on the list, I read it aloud.

"One hundred apples; red."

I was flabbergasted, to say the least.

"What does she need one hundred apples for?!" I said in horror. I barely had any bits on me to pay for anything! In hindsight, I probably should have grabbed a little more than a small hoof-ful of currency before I left the library, but still! One hundred apples! A tad excessive, no?

"I'm sure she has some egghead reason for them," Rainbow Dash said while flicking a hoof ahead of her, dismissing my shock completely. "But as for where we can get them, I'm sure Applejack has enough. She might have her stand set up at the market, let's go!"

With that, Rainbow Dash charged off ahead of me with a determined trot. I fell into step behind her, thinking. But not about the apples.

I was more interested in Rainbow Dash. She was... an interesting character to say the least. I really didn't know her at all, but she seemed to be a nice enough mare. The part that got me, though, was how she and Twilight could have ever become friends in the first place! From what I'd noticed from Rainbow Dash simply from her subtle body language and attitude, I was guessing she was rather lazy at times, and was most definitely not at the same academic level as Twilight, or me even as I had guessed. She was as different from Twilight as I suppose a pony could have been.

But they were friends, none-the-less. I sighed, not wanting to hurt my brain by trying to comprehend how such a friendship could have been formed. It probably had to do with the elements of harmony or something cheesy like that. Surely only a plot device of some sort could have brought the two into contact.

"Howdy there!"

I snapped back to reality upon hearing Applejack's voice. Looking up, I noticed we were in Ponyville market. I shook my head for a moment, clearing my mind of any thought of the pegasus mare next to me before giving Applejack a light smile.

"Aye, hello Applejack. Fancy meeting you here."

Applejack raised an eyebrow before turning around. I was slightly concerned as to why she did so before I noticed she was still unpacking her cart.

"Fancy? That's an odd way of puttin' it, I s'pose." she said offhoofedly as she pulled out the final sign for her cart resting it against the front of her mobile apple-selling vendor's wagon. "So what can ah do for ya two?" she said before her face contorted slightly.

"Ah mean, not 'ya two' as in _ya two_, but ah mean, uh... ya know-"

Rainbow Dash quickly stopped Applejack mid-sentence (er, ramble).

"We're getting things for Twilight, Applejack. That. Is. It." she practically growled. Wow, that was slightly ominous.

"Ah see," Applejack said unfazed- no, I take that back. Rainbow Dash's aggression seemed to actually calm Applejack down. Whatever the case, Applejack sighed before hopping behind her stall.

"Well, whatever the case bein', what can ah get for y'all?"

I cringed slightly as I answered her. "One hundred red apples."

Applejack laughed loudly, slapping a hoof on the side of her cart forcefully. Many of the ponies around us (read: everypony surrounding us) cast us a concerned glance. I smirked sheepishly to them before turning to Applejack, who seemed to be composing herself from her... outburst.

"Ah'm sorry, it was jus'... Ah thought ah heard ya ask for a-hundred apples!"

I gave her the flattest expression I could muster.

Two hundred bits later (which was all I had plus a considerable amount of compensation by Rainbow Dash), I was heading back to the library with a cart full of apples, provided generously by Applejack.

"Thanks again for covering the rest of that for me, I'll make sure I pay you back," I assured Rainbow Dash. The bag I'd received from Pinkie Pie was bobbing about atop the cart of apples hitched to my back.

"No problem, don't worry about it too much. We're cool," she insisted. I rolled my eyes, a habit as of late it seemed.

"No, it is not '_cool_', and I assure you that I will cover the difference you provided as soon as possible."

"If you insist," Rainbow said as she trotted along next to me, her own form carrying a bag of apples provided (of course) by a bewildered Applejack. Apparently we were free to use them for the rest of the day, bless her heart.

As we made it to the library, I knocked on the door, hoping Spike would hurry up and open the door. I couldn't wait to see the look on his face. Speaking of Spike, how did Twilight even expect him to gather all of this by himself?! This was borderline crazy, even for her! Granted, I barely knew her other than what I'd picked up and/or heard, but-

The door creaked open, revealing a sopping wet Spike. He was sweaty, which was actually kind of disturbing to see glistening on his scales. How could he even sweat?!

"Hi," he said coldly as he performed a perfect about-face and scampered off back to the kitchen. He must have been having a difficult time, I almost felt bad for him.

Rainbow Dash and I drug the apples and the bag intro the kitchen. As we passed by the table in the main room, I noticed the letter from earlier was missing. I assumed that Twilight had gathered it while I was gone.

"This is only the first part of the list, Spike," I said while I parked the cart in the corner of the kitchen. "I'll go and get the rest of it-"

Spike cut me off.

"Yeah, about that. Forget about the list," Spike said, growling to himself.

"I'm sorry?" I asked carefully.

"Forget about it, Twilight doesn't need any of it anymore."

I face-hoofed.

"So what do you want me to do with all of this stuff here, then?" I asked, casting a hoof to the supplies I'd managed to accumulate through the day.

"Just leave it there," he grunted, turning to a bowl of... something.

I muttered a confused "Alrighty" before slowly exiting the kitchen, accompanied by a bewildered Rainbow Dash.

"That was... odd."

I nodded. "Yes, yes it was. Pointless, too."

The two of us stood there awkwardly for a few minutes, trying to come up with something to say. Finally, I broke the silence.

"Well, since I no longer have a chore to do today, I suppose I'm going to go help Applejack out at the farm again."

Rainbow Dash cocked her head at me. "Why'd you want to do that?" she asked.

"Well, if I want to stay here, I might as well help out around here. I might end up with a... job..." I paused. That actually didn't sound like such a bad idea, being a farmhand. Applejack had stated they always would appreciate having an extra set of hooves on the farm, and I wasn't really doing anything else other than keeping an eye on Twilight. Surely I could keep enough proximity on her to be able to have a job and still keep an eye on her. Pl,us, a job would keep my cover more-or-less intact, seeing as Twilight wasn't supposed to know that I was her own personal security detail.

"You know what, I think I might just ask Applejack if I can get an actual job on the farm."

"That's... nice, I guess?" Rainbow Dash said, rubbing a hoof on the back of her neck. "But what am I supposed to do now?"

"I don't know, whatever you normally do?" I said, completely oblivious to what she was implying.

And with that, I blinked out of the library, leaving the mare all alone.

So much for tact.


	11. Chapter 11

Just Blink

_Digital_Hex_

**Chapter Eleven**

I reappeared a few paces from Applejack's cart, startling the poor mare.

"Blink? What're ya doin' back here?" she asked, not in anger or anything of that sort but in more confusion than anything else. I hope she wasn't afraid I was going to buy more apples... Or secretly glad. Whatever floats her boat, I suppose.

"I was wondering if I could get a job on the farm, actually," I told her.

She was shocked, to say the least, but I could see the relief in her eyes.

"Ya caught the bug yesterday, didn'cha?" she said.

"The what-"

"Yeah, ya caught the bug!" she interrupted, chuckling to herself. I decided to keep my mouth shut. Twilight sure had some weird friends.

"We'd love the extra help, sugar cube. Seein' as ya all but bought us out-" she motioned towards the nearly empty cart of apples. I hadn't realized that she really had sold nearly her entire cart to me. Shouldn't she carry a bit more than a hundred apples, though?-

"- Ah suppose I could jus' go ahead and take ya down to the farm now. The work we've got for ya is pretty much the same as yesterday, ya think yer up to it?" she asked.

In my mind, it was a challenge.

"Sure thing," I said, slightly adopting a southern drawl of my own to match her. She chuckled, picking out my horrible imitation accent quickly. Did I mention it was horrible?

"Aw, aren'tcha a sweet one? Complainin' 'bout the work one day then good ta go the next! Yer a keeper, yes ya are!" she chuckled away to herself as she trotted away from the cart. I raised an eyebrow and turned after Applejack.

"Uh... aren't you forgetting something?" I asked her, pointing a hoof at the unattended vendor's cart.

"Naw, Granny Smith's got it! Ain't that right, Granny?" Applejack called from over her shoulder.

"You go have fun with yer friends now, Applejack!"

I turned in shock to the voice immediately next to me. A green elderly mare with a bun of gray mane atop her head rested casually on a walker, giving me a supportive (read: suggestive) wink.

"A strong one, I see," she cackled.

I panicked and shouted out "SEEYOUATTHEFARM!" to Applejack before blinking to Sweet Apple Acres.

Around ten minutes later, Applejack came a-strollin' along onto the farm, greeting me with a tip of her hat like her crazy granny hadn't just scared the mana out of me.

"Howdy," she chirped while trotting past me, nose held high. I snorted.

"Been waitin' for you," I said, once again trying to nail that southern accent. I did a little better that time.

"Well now ah'm waitin' on you!" she announced as she skipped on towards the barn. I rolled my eyes and followed her in.

A heavy thud told me that was a mistake.

I looked over my shoulders to see the cringe-worthy plow back again, securely fastened to my shoulders.

"Greeeaaat..." I drawled, huffing slightly.

And with that, my day had begun.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

With a huff and a groan, I slid into the hot springs, groaning in pleasure as the warmth blissfully enveloped me in a steamy hug of orgasmic proportions- oh dear, that was pretty descriptive, huh? My point exactly.

Letting my muscles uncurl, I looked up into the moonlight that surrounded me, the stars twinkling in the sky. The sun had set long before Applejack had cut me loose, and I was almost certain midnight had passed by the time she allowed me to leave. Allowed was actually the appropriate term here, as I was now officially employed by the Apple family. Apparently two days of hard work fulfilled both the interview and contract, I guess. Anyhow, Applejack had given me the following day off, so I could spend as much tiem here as I desired. Goody, goody!

I took a deep breath in, filling my nostrils with the sweet scent of pine and apples. Soon it would just be pine. And then, in twelve days, it would only be apple. The night after, pine. Such sweet surety. I love knowing the facts.

I stayed like that for at least an hour, feeling the tension melt off of my coat. I was alone the entire night, to my delight. I did NOT want to start having any more incestuous thoughts running through my mind.

As time drifted away, I knew I would have to leave my heavenly place of comfort and return to the library eventually. Groaning like a foal, I drug myself from the spring and with a casual flick of my horn appeared in my room at the library. Giving a mighty leap into the air, I landed on my bed with an undignified "hmmph!"

In ten seconds flat, I was out cold.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

The next morning I woke up surprisingly pleasantly. I was fully expecting to be sore from the day of work I'd done before, but was actually quite fine after it. After swiftly popping my back, I teleported myself into the kitchen. The kitchen was... empty. Not a sign of life from before me, so I assumed Spike and Twilight were probably still asleep. Deciding that I would have made too much noise preparing myself a morning meal while simultaneously trying to find everything to make one, I decided to simply nab an apple from the full cart I'd brought in the day before and took a deliciously generous bite out of it, savoring the sweet juice that flowed from the tender meat.

'Twas delicious.

I quickly blinked back to my room, grabbing my bits bag with my pitiful magic and managing to sling it around the nub I called my horn (cry) before blinking back into the kitchen. Slowly trotting out of the kitchen and into the main room, I noticed a large stack of books haphazardly lying about the floor, as if they had been abandoned mid-read. I paid no further attention to them and quickly popped outside the door, still munching contently on my tasty fruity treat while I began a pleasantly silent stroll through Ponyville.

Don't get me wrong, Twilight was a wonderful guide, great in fact. It's just, I enjoyed the peace and quiet of wandering the village by myself, too. Many days were passed when I was younger simply by trotting around Anville all alone, crossing the same intersections over and over, getting lost in the maze I already had memorized the route of. It was repetitive, but I found it fun. The trotting was what really entertained me. There just wasn't anything like getting some glorious exercise simply from putting one hoof in front of the oth-

"OOF!" I cried out as I was tackled from the side.

This day was going to be great. I could feel it.

Namely in my kidney.


	12. Chapter 12

Just Blink

_Digital_Hex_

**Chapter Twelve**

"OhmygoshI'msorryBlinkIdidn'tseeyouthereareyouokay wellIhopeyou'reokayI'vegottogobye!"

A moment later, as I regained my senses, I was vaguely aware of Pinkie Pie bouncing away.

"What was that?!" I moaned to the sky, looking up at the clouds.

"That was Pinkie Pie, duh."

I turned my head to see Rainbow Dash had appeared not far from me. She had her brow slightly furrowed, and wore a slight smirk on her face.

"You can't have already forgotten about Pinkie Pie. Perhaps I should go tell her you need another party, to remember her better," she said with a snicker.

"Will it be worse than the last one?" I asked.

"Much-" she started, but I cut her off.

"NO. JUST, NO."

I blinked to my feet, turning to face her. Something was off with her, something. Her mane was unlike the other days I'd seen her, it was actually... brushed? It was still pretty thick and wild, but a more controlled wild, swept to the side more.

"Nice mane," I commented as I continued my stroll. Rainbow Dash started to speak, but cut herself off before muttering something and flying off. I dismissed it. Twilight's friends sure were weird.

I kept that in mind as I trotted along. Really, all of her friends that I'd met were a little... strange, in some way. Rarity seemed to be the least odd, granted I had only met her once. For all I knew, she could have been a crazy cat lady who had a mental breakdown every time she noticed the slightest fashion deviation.

Applejack wasn't far after Rarity, though. She seemed dependable enough, and being my newest employer I had a decent amount of authority-based respect for her. She hadn't seemed to have anything weird with her, or anything. Or maybe she had been lying to me the entire time. How would I have told?

Pinkie Pie was obviously the weirdest one of them all. She was completely random and unexpected, and I'd only met her twice! I couldn't imagine having been friends with her for any multitude of years.

Twilight... Twilight was my cousin. I knew this constant brewing over her wasn't good for anything but trouble.

I was knocked from my thoughts as I ran headlong into a tree. Groaning, I rubbed my head with a hoof, sitting under the shade. I was too in thought to have done anything else, really.

Rainbow Dash...

I'd heard of her, while on missions. She'd performed a sonic rainboom, I knew that. Twice in the past couple years, to boot. She was an athlete through and through, and I'd heard the occasional nicker from my soldiers about how she was modestly attracted to her. These were soldiers who were years older than me, too.

She... had a nice enough body, I supposed. I'd never really stopped and thought this hard on whether or not I was attracted to a mare or not, I just was or wasn't. Garnet, no. Twilight, yes. Rainbow Dash...

I sighed, flopping onto my back. I hated thinking.

I also hated thinking back. I hated my memories.

"Blink?"

I turned and almost jumped out of my hide.

Dream was sitting down next to me, looking exactly the same as the last morning I'd seen her.

"D-Dream?!" I screamed. I'm sure my voice cracked. "This is just a hallucination, a dream. You're not really here, nor am I! I'll wake up soon, yes!" I said to myself. Dream just stared ahead, looking at the landscape around us. We were on a knoll in a large grassy field, trees dotted around us. It was quiet, peaceful.

"You aren't dreaming," Dream said, "but I'm not really here, either."

"Visionsaywhatnow?" I deadpanned.

Dream turned to me and reached up, tapping my horn. The sharp buzz I felt against my horn told me I was casting a spell. Odd, I don't remember casting a spell.

"What. Is. Happening."

"I don't know," Dream said, wearing her normal unemotional face. "I just found myself here, with you. Maybe you wanted to talk about something, or... I dunno."

I sighed. This was weird. I could communicate with the dead now? I'd never tried that before, and I didn't exactly recall doing it now.

But she'd said something about wanting to talk? Yeah, I wanted to talk about a lot of things, but at the same time I didn't want to mention anything to anypony.

"Okay," I mumbled, "what do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know, I thought you wanted to talk about something," she told me.

I groaned, rubbing a hoof into my temples. This was getting really confusing. Why was she here, now? What was this supposed to mean?

"Well, I don't exactly have anything to speak about, so if you'll just bug off that would be great."

I instantly regretted my words. I looked back to where she was, only to see with a sad glance that she was gone.

I curled my face into my hooves and screamed.


	13. Chapter 13

Just Blink

_Digital_Hex_

**Chapter Thirteen**

"_… he isn't stable, not mentally. He needs more time!"_

_ "We don't have time, Lieutenant Colonel Armour! Don't make me say it, damnit."_

_ "I won't send him out, not in his condition."_

_ "Then you leave me no choice, Lieutenant Colonel Armour. Your team is removed from the mission, and I am replacing your entire team with First Lieutenant Blink, effective immediately. This is an order, Lieutenant Colonel."_

_ "..."_

_ "What was that, Lieutenant Colonel?"_

_ "Yes sir, General Ochre."_

I leaned back against the tree, my head throbbing. Before me, the plains spread out before my vision. It was so peaceful, so calm. Yet... why was I still so aware of everything?

I closed my eyes again, wincing in pain as another flash swept through my mind. I was back in the briefing room, my cousin Shining Armour and General Ochre still locked in conversation. This had been years ago, the first real test of my military career. It had also been one of the most influential to me.

_"Prepare First Lieutenant Blink for the mission ahead,"_ General Ochre said. _"He has a lot to learn before he is ready for the manticore pit."_

I roared in pain as my horn felt like it was going to split open, bashing my face into the tree. Then, everything was quiet.

My breathing steadied itself as I stood there, shaking. Now was not the time to let my nerves get to me. I'd been doing too much 'getting accustomed' bull. I had a mission I was sent to do, and that was protect Twilight Sparkle. Not pursue romance, not worry about every little nightmare I had.

With a grunt, I heaved myself from the tree and sprinted towards the tree line off in the distance, the edge of the Everfree. I had no intentions of entering, but it would make a good perimeter for me to run along.

I needed my exercise if I wanted to catch a murderer.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

A week had passed since I'd seen Dream, and I'd been hard at work. The southern fields at the Apple farm were clean and cleared to near perfection, and we'd begun assembling some of the gazebos and similar buildings that were to dot the area. The entire space provided for the dance was pretty impressive, too. Almost an entire quarter-mile of flat land, ready to be prepared for festivities.

"Ya think ya could fasten this up'n there?" Big Macintosh asked me, tossing a long line of rope to me from below. I'd met Applejack's other household family members as I worked on the farm, first meeting the adorable little miss Applebloom (who was playing near the edge of the field with the dog Winona) and the dependable Big Macintosh, who had been my worker buddy for the past three days. We were in the process of building a large loft off to the side of the impressive dance floor, from which the music equipment and such could be set up in.

"Sure thing," I said as I grabbed the rope and swung it over the frame, pulling the line taught and raising a wall with Big Macintosh's help. He was a strong pony, much stronger than Shining Armour was, which was saying something. Farm work had done him well.

As it had done me as well. I hadn't really seen much of Twilight the past week due to my job and such with the Apple's, but I'm sure even she would have admitted that simply this week had shown on me a bit. My normally skinny frame was for once starting to fill out a little, especially in the chest and flank.

"Thank ya kindly," Big Macintosh said as he nodded.

"No problem, Mac," I said as I blinked down to his level, bumping hooves with him. He towered over me a tad more than Shining did, another impressive characteristic.

"Ah think yer good fer today," he said evenly, nodding once he finished his words. I thanked him and teleported away, straight to my special spot near the Apple farm. The hot springs.

I felt the ground disappear from beneath my hooves, and was startled when instead of water beneath me, I found myself standing on... fur?

A girlish shriek and a wet tumble later, I was rubbing my head in pain before a very apologetic Twilight Sparkle.

"No Twilight, it's my fault. I should have been more careful-" I stopped mid-sentence.

Twilight was, in all honesty, a wreck. Even in her soaked state (which had my nose bleeding freely), she obviously hadn't gotten much sleep recently. Her mane was crumpled and messy, and she had huge bags under her eyes.

"Uh, Twilight? You don't look so good- I mean, not in that way, of course, but-"

Twilight giggled tiredly, making me stop with a goofy grin on my face.

"What I mean to say, is," I started over, taking a deep breath, "are you alright? I haven't really seen much of you over the past few days, after all."

"I'm..." she paused, trying to think of the appropriate word as she settled into the warm water.

"Beat. Tired. Exhausted. Semi-lucid. Dare I say, a tad bit deranged."

"Why?" I asked, honestly curious.

"I... well, um..." she said, a huge blush visible on her face.

"Tell me," I said, a small smirk on my face. This was different than the teasing Twilight I'd been staying with.

"I got a... confession... in a letter..."

I felt a twinge in my brain. '_What?'_

"I'm sorry, but what? A confession? Like... a love letter?" I asked.

She nodded quickly, her face getting even redder.

"I have no idea how to respond to it! I hardly know Willow Breeze as it is, I just... I don't..." she trailed off.

I swallowed hard, accepting the facts. Twilight had somepony who was interested in her. I won't pretend I didn't expect something like that, quite honestly I was a little surprised she didn't already have a special somepony when I had shown up. But, still... When you fall a bit for your cousin, it's kind of difficult to hear that news.

Snorting, I shook my head, wracking my mind. No, this was good. She needed somepony in her life, and surely this Willow Breeze character could be trusted... right?

"That's... good. Very good, Twilight." I cracked the most sincere smile I could at the moment, which was a thin sliver.

"I'm so happy for you."

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but before she could even get out a sound I blinked away.

Suddenly I was back in the field where I'd seen Dream, running. Just running.

I didn't feel pain, who was I to feel pain about this new knowledge? It wasn't like Twilight was mine or anything. But at the same time, I felt... hurt? No, just... confused. Yeah, confused was the right word for that.

I ended my sprint at the tree I'd rested upon before, gasping loudly in the dark night, my lungs burning. Dropping to the ground, I heaved in breath after breath of white hot air. I was having an asthma attack, probably a full-on nervous break down, too.

Why? Why was I getting so worked up over this?

I knocked my head against the bark, trying to catch my breath. Finally, after a few moments, my breathing was somewhat under control.

"Hey, can you keep it quiet down there? Some ponies try this thing called _sleep_ at night!"

I glanced up at Rainbow Dash's voice, barely seeing her silhouette in the moonlight.

"S-sorry," I wheezed out. I was doubtful that she could recognize my voice in this state.

"What's got you so worked up, anyways?" she asked as I heard some leaves rustle, indicating she was shifting in her tree. Why was she sleeping in a tree, anyways? I shrugged it off as I did everything, it seemed.

"Whoever you are," she added, confirming that she hadn't recognized my voice.

"Oh, that?" I chuckled nervously. "Just learned something that... I hadn't been expecting, really. I'm not quite sure what to make of it."

I plopped myself down at the base of the tree, looking up at the stars. They were beautiful tonight.

_This is what I'm protecting every day, huh?_ I thought to myself, trying to get my body to calm down.

"I'm guessing mare trouble, then," she laughed.

"How'd you guess?" I chuckled along with her.

"I... might have had some similar trouble recently. Not with a mare, of course," she assured me, "but... you know, stallions. You try and get their attention, and... they blow you off. I even tried doing my mane up all fancy for him, and he the best he could come up with was _nice mane_."

I swallowed hard. Oh jeez.

Rainbow Dash had been interested in me? Like, that kind of interested?

I snorted. Tonight was just the day of getting more and more information I wasn't expecting, wasn't it?

"He... sounds pretty thick," I commented, now desperately trying to keep my voice unrecognizable. At this point, I wanted to just teleport away, but that would have been just as much a giveaway as if I'd yelled into her ear "GUESS WHO YER TALKING TO!"

"Yeah... I hardly know him, though, so I'm not too upset. I really just wanted to see if I could get him interested in me. Unlike what the town thinks, I'm not a lesbian. Not that there isn't anything wrong with them, it's just... I dunno. I must be really wiped if I'm telling you all this."

Again, I swallowed hard. This was bad. A mare I barely knew was unknowingly confessing to me that she _had_ a crush on me. Greaaat...

"Well, this was a great chat," I said, slowly shuffling to my hooves and slinking away, "but I think I need to go. Now. Sorry."

"Yeah, yeah. Nobody wants to chat for long anyways," she said sarcastically. Sighing in both pity and relief, I slunk off into the night.

Just when I thought the night couldn't get any worse, my horn started twitching.

"Buck," I muttered before breaking into an all-out sprint, heading straight for the Everfree forest. Leaping in, I cried in pain as my horn lit up, spraying sparks and light everywhere. With a heavy thrust from my neck, I slipped away all of my mana and sent out a bolt of pure energy away from me. It hit a tree with a meaty _SMACK!_

Huffing, I felt my head go light and dizzy as my energy level dropped dramatically. Suddenly with a flash of pain, I felt my back tear apart, throwing me to the ground. A quick crack from where I knew the mark on my back was, and it was over as quickly as it had begun.

I was breathing heavily, my face pressed into the dirt by my own weight.

"Well, uh... this is awkward."

I drug my face along the ground until I was facing the owner of the voice.

I was looking at a female version of me.

My eyes rolled back in my head, and I was out.


	14. Chapter 14

Just Blink

_Digital_Hex_

**Chapter Fourteen**

_"Deployment zone ahead, ready the bulkhead."_

_ "Atmospheric pressure is accounted for. Ready for drop in thirty."_

_ "Blink, are you ready for this?"_

_ Before me, I could see the expanse of dead land and burning caverns. Somewhere in there was my destination. Likelihood of my survival... low._

_ "Aye, sir."_

_"Drop him."_

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

I woke up to the sounds of a crackling fire. Trying to sit up, I felt the soft grab of fabric against my hide. I was indoors.

My eyes opened slowly, taking in the room. It was a hut, covered in tribal décor. The host was most likely Zebraik, or had a fascination for their culture. Masks were propped up along the walls, with a large pot boiling in the center of the room. I could smell the sharp taint of Razor-root in the air, a rare weed from the south of Poneighsia.

"Good to see you're awake," I heard a definitely female voice mutter to my side. Turning, I saw her.

She was, for lack of a better word, me. Same coat, same mane, same eyes, same general facial structure, same cutie mark even. Same scars, same posture, same... everything.

"This is..." I trailed off.

"Weird?" she finished for me. I was talking with myself. My head hurt so bad, I wanted to just lean back and fall back asleep.

"Y-yeah..." I said. "How did... you know..." I said, waving a hoof for her to fill in.

"Appear?" she guessed. I nodded. "No clue."

Perfect. Fragging perfect.

I heard a door open, and both me and my gender-bent self looked towards the entrance to the hut. A zebra trotted in with a small bag across her back, various plants and such poking out.

"It is good to see you are awake, I was afraid it was too late," she said in rhyme.

"W-where am I? What happened?" I asked, looking at my surroundings.

"As for where you are, it is my dwelling; for what happened, though, you must start telling." she said cryptically. I made a face of confusion before my... clone (?) started talking to me.

"She doesn't know anything more than we do, at this point."

"And how much _do_ we know?" I asked her.

"I..." she started before rubbing a hoof along her mane. "I can remember... everything. Anville, the academy, the... pit, even... I was there." She made a face of confusion. "That was _me,_ there..."

Then she shot her hooves out, waving them at me. "But now they are all _you_! All of my memories!"

She shook her head violently.

The zebra decided to speak up. "If you just appeared, it is as I feared; a single conscience had been reared. Now that you have been split, your souls are unique with their own fires lit. Further study I must do, if you must learn what happened to you."

I clapped in my mind. That was rather impressive. Then I focused on what she'd said. Own fires lit? What was that even supposed to mean, the fire of life or something?

"Well, do whatever you need to do, miss...?"

"Zecora is my name, and if I may can I have the same?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Aural Blink," I told her.

"It is a pleasure, brave soldier; and about you, do you go by another?"

My female counterpart looked around, then shook her head side-to-side. "N-no. That's, uh... My name too, so..."

Well, this was awkward.

"It is worse than I had initially believed; at the same time, however, I am slightly relieved. This tells me a lot, if you can understand; for you are he, as you her- please, stand."

I rose to my hooves, standing next to... me. She was a bit shorter than me, only slightly taller than most mares around town, I'd say.

Zecora rummaged through her bag, and without warning showered us with a dusty powder that shimmered in the shallow light.

I sneezed, rubbing the powder from my nose. It itched lightly against my coat, but that was it.

"What was that?!' I began, but was cut short as Zecora eyed the space next to me. I looked left, raising my brow and stepping back as my female version started looking around frightened. Her coat was starting to glow bright gold, throwing off stray light everywhere.

"This is most peculiar, it would seem; a hex, a strong one, has been placed upon thee. Tell me, have you had any visions, thoughts back to the past? If so, focus on them, for they shall not be the last."

"What is that supposed to mean?!" I called to Zecora. A strange, deep buzzing sound was coursing through the hut.

"You shall see, soon enough. The curse upon you shall run it's plot. You must be strong, must learn fast; protect yourself, or you shall be trapped."

"What is that supposed to mean-" I started, but stopped as soon as I heard a familiar chuckling. Turning to face my female version, I furrowed my brow. Her coat and mane were starting to change colours, her eyes starting to lose their glow and fade a dark red. The brand upon my back burned with a righteous boil, but I didn't let my eyes leave her.

With a flick of her mane, she magicked her hat upon her head, giving me the same disdainful glare she'd given me the first time I'd met her.

"Why, it has been a while, hasn't it my dear huffing brat?"

Marelin had returned.


	15. Chapter 15

Just Blink

_Digital_Hex_

**Chapter Fifteen**

The ground below me fell apart, leaving us suspended in reality. We were surrounded by darkness.

"Good to see you haven't failed me yet, my pawn," she cooed from where she stood. I growled back in response.

"How did you get back! Where are we!"

Marelin cackled, tossing her butter yellow mane back in a quick, swift action. She was aged, but her complexion was flawless, a true temptress. Once a high mage of Canterlot, she was a monster of her former self.

"How did I return? Why, you brought me back, silly!" The pale blue unicorn started circling around me in the void we resided in, prowling like a cat around a mouse.

"I had planned to try and hide away in the bigger white one, Armour was his name? But no, you insisted on volunteering yourself. I really should be thanking you, as I had no idea you would be the one closer to her."

"..."

"Ah, cat got your tongue? Or should I say, griffon?"

I winced.

"Yes, I know just how much you hate the griffons, Blink. Like I said-"

She flashed a golden hue, and suddenly she was back to being the female version of me.

"- You're me, and I am you. Such a useful ability from this spell, I know everything about you. I know you better than you know yourself."

Suddenly, we were surrounded by floating images. It took me a moment, but I recognized them after. They were my memories.

There was me earning my cutie mark, next to it was my short time back in Equestria before I left... There was an image of me dodging the tail from a manticore from the incident in the pit, and...

I felt my breath catch in my throat, my eyes shrinking to pinpricks. The biggest image of all was floating directly between the two of us. I was staring at my younger self, terrified outside of a little hut in a forest. A hut I recognized all too well.

"_So what's she look like, anyways? How will I know which one to nab?"_

"_She's a young filly, no cutie mark. Her coat is a dark shade of purple, with a snow-white mane."_

A single hot, angry tear welled up in my eye.

"She answers to Dream," Marelin said in tune with the other voice. Matching it perfectly.

"Y-you," I croaked. She'd led the uprising years ago, she was the... she was the reason...

"YOU KILLED MY FAMILY!" I bellowed, charging towards her. With a furious roar, I swung a hoof into her midsection. She stepped backwards with me, using the impact to swing around me and catch me clean on the side of my head. I spun from the impact, thrusting a back hoof towards her and slamming it straight into her face. It felt good, very good.

She staggered backwards from the blow, charging her horn. I could feel the energy she was pulling, she was attempting to teleport away. There was also another layer, in there... a time spell? She was trying to go back in time? The furthest she could possibly go back in time was a few weeks-

An image passed through my mind. Right when I'd arrived in Ponyville, that's when she wanted to go. Right when I'd arrived at Twilight's house.

I breathed in sharply. Twilight. She wanted to hurt, probably kill her. She wanted to hurt Twilight.

Snorting, I charged her again, using a quick teleportation spell to blink right next to her.

Like Hell I would let her touch my cousin.

I felt the world _POP!_ Around me, and the next moment we were tumbling through the sky around Sweet Apple Acres. From the look of it, the time hadn't changed. The field was plowed and still in the process of being set up for the dance.

With a giant _CRASH!_ we smashed through the field, knocking through buildings and such. The sun was beginning to set, letting me know I'd been out cold at Zecora's for a while, then. Ponies who were finishing up help around the town scampered away, screaming in fear.

"Away, you insolent brat!" Marelin cried, slugging me in the chest with a heavy bolt of magic. I barely had enough time to deflect it before she followed it up with another. And another. And another.

I slammed into the ground, my coat burning as thick blobs of hissing mana slopped onto my coat, eating through my hide and licking away at my skin. A wipe of magic swept them off, but I could feel my already crippled mana pool draining rapidly. If it kept up like this, I would be running on empty, something every unicorn dreaded. To be low on mana was one thing, but to truly run out... meant death.

A swift clop to my head from Marelin knocked me down, disoriented. Yelling madly, I swept my hooves around under her, catching her in the swing as I threw myself over her and pushing until I had her pinned below me. She started a spell, but I didn't care. White-hot anger flashed through my mind. I was vaguely aware of my own horn lighting up.

I swung, mashing her face into the ground. My hoof bit through her hide and came away bloody. She growled and thrusted her horn at me, a flame of magma shooting past me. It steamed and hissed as it plodded into the earth behind us.

I swung again, and again, beating her face into a pulp. I vaguely became aware of a hoof gently setting on my shoulder. I ignored it.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID! YOU WILL PAY!" I cried as I swung over and over again. My lungs were on fire, begging me to slow down, to stop.

My horn gave me a tug, pulling it sharply right. There, Dream was standing, a line of magic connecting the two of us. My parents were standing there as well.

"Mom..." I cried, tears streaming down my face. Why were they here? How was this happening?

"D-Dad?!"

A swift uppercut threw me from Marelin. I blinked next to her, tossing my back legs under her and sliding, beating her underside furiously with my hooves until I felt her ribs crack.

"Don't do this, Blink."

I turned to my dad.

"What do you- she killed you! She's the reason you died!"

"What? No, kick her ass, son," my dad said, taking a step towards me.

"Just... make sure it's _you_ who delivers her justice," he said.

I felt a pair of hooves wrap around me, and then I was airborne.

While in the air, I looked around. Our little fight had taken us all over the field, destroying everything. Ponies had surrounded the field, pointing and looking. I saw Rainbow Dash and Applejack standing in the crowd, mouths agape with shock and slight fear.

I blinked myself to the ground, whirling around. Marelin stood there with a dark grin upon her face. I felt my ears flick back when I saw why.

Towering beside her was a massive Cerberus, but this one was... different from normal Cerberus. It was an elemental. Huge clumps of flames licked away from it like fur, and it's eyes were a deep, pulsing blue. A blue that matched Marelin's magic perfectly.

"Have fun with my pet, dear," Marelin spat at me while executing a short jab with her horn, sending the beast beside her forward.

"I have a date to make."

Marelin rushed off as her hound pounced at me. I blinked away, but I felt my reserves of mana too low to try and rapidly blink. I was going to have to face the beast head on.

"Rainbow! Don't let her get away!" I cried out before I tackled the beast, who was now heading towards some of the other ponies surrounding the fields. I wouldn't let it hurt anypony besides me, not if I could help it.

Maybe I was slightly masochistic.

I roared as I leaped onto it's back, swinging my hooves around one of it's necks. It in turn roared back, one of the head snapping shut along the side of my face, tearing off part of my right ear.

Pain flashed through my mind as I reverted to pure instincts. It was just like the pit.

_"Just like the pit..."_ I whispered to myself, giving myself a list of what I needed to do.

One: Cripple.

Cerberus were like manticore in that they could regenerate vital parts of their body, but the random appendage here and there were vulnerable to temporary damage. If anything, it would give me more time to slay the beast.

I shuddered as I swung over the Cerberus, sending a sharp kick to one of it's faces. That's what I intended to do, wasn't it? Slay the monster. That's all it was, right? A monster. No mind, no soul. Just a monster, right?

It sent a paw my way, a paw I was ready for. Slipping under it at the last moment, I latched myself onto the joint where it's elbow would be and flexed sharply. I satisfying crack rang through my ears, along with the painful squeal form two of the heads. The third one reared back and spat another ball of phlegm at me.

I had no chance at stopping it. The flames washed over me, tearing apart the front of my hide. I knew I cried out in pain, flying backwards from the impact. I flew through the field, smashing into a tree on the nearby field, right next to a small pond. Rainbow Dash was nearby, having tackled Marelin. I watched Rainbow Dash rear back and connect with Marelin's horn, a shark flash of sparks emitting from the flute. She wouldn't be doing any casting soon.

_"Shining, come quick,"_ I thought through my mind, desperately trying to reach Shining Armour. _"Marelin is back, she's here in Ponyville. Don't know if I can keep her down for long, she brought along a pet."_

A deep growl returned my focus to said 'pet'. It staggered along towards me, limping on three of it's legs at an alarming speed. I groaned internally as I rose to my hooves, feeling weak all over. I didn't have much left after that phlegm. I braced myself before the pool before I had an idea. I simple idea, but thankfully Cerberus weren't exactly known for their intelligence.

"Come and get it, fluffy!" I barked at the Cerberus, antagonizing it further. It bellowed in rage as it closed in, snapping all of it's jaws at me. Cracks through it's hide gave away it's weakness as an elemental.

I waited until it was close before I blinked away. I waited a split second too long. A single tooth punctured my flank as I blinked away at the last possible moment, tearing the tooth with me as the Cerberus went tumbling into the pond. The pool hissed as the fiery beast was flooded with the cold water, sending the pool into a boil as it's body degenerated to nothing. That was the catch for being an elemental: great power, but the darnedest off switches.

I flashed back in right next to Marelin and Dash right as Marelin completed a spin-kick to Rainbow Dash's face, knocking her out cold.

"Rainbow!" I cried, my body wavering. I was too low on mana to do any more magic for quite a while, my body sapped of most of it's energy. Rainbow Dash had done a good job, though. Marelin, the old witch, was also beat down, bleeding from multiple wounds where the blade of Rainbow's hooves had sliced her.

Rainbow Dash crashed down at my hooves, out for now.

She'd trusted me, hadn't she. I'd asked her to stop Marelin, and without argument she'd done it, better than any soldier I knew would have done it, to boot. She didn't give up, she didn't bow down. Rainbow Dash had followed through with what I'd told her. She... she sure was something else.

And Marelin had hurt her. Marelin had hurt her, wanted to hurt Twilight, and had killed my family. My vision went red.

"You."

I took a menacing step towards her.

"Will."

Somehow, I found the magic to pull the flaming tooth out of my ass, feeling the venom seeping into me. I shut off the pain, ignored it.

"Pay."

I gored her through the stomach as I smashed into her, coughing her blood over my back. My back legs crumpled as I tried to stab her again, but she deflected the tooth from her with a weak hoof. I was content with using my hooves to end her.

I saw Dream, dying before me, being defiled.

"This is for Dream!" I cried, swinging my hooves down below me to crush her snout in slightly, breaking her muzzle.

"This is for my parents!" I cried as I saw them flood my memories, smiling and waving from the good days.

My hooves snapped her head to the side in rage.

"This is for being the reason I was sent to that accursed pit!"

I stamped on her neck, trying to cut out her oxygen.

"And this is for Rainbow Dash," I growled as I pressed down harder.

"You will feel my pain, bitch." I spat in her face. My Faust, I wanted to end her. Screw what I was supposed to do, screw everything. This bitch was going to die, regardless of what policy dictated.

"Blink!"

Suddenly I was knocked to my side. I thrashed about, trying to stand. I was in a pinhold, a move only one pony could use on me successfully.

"Calm down, Blink," Shining Armour said evenly. I was distantly aware of Marelin being jumped by some guards.

"SHE DESERVES TO DIE!" I screamed, trying to break free. I would have my revenge, damn it!

"Yes, she does," Shining agreed. "But not like this. Not now."

I choked back sobs as I screamed and thrashed, desperate to get out.

"SHE KILLED THEM! SHE KILLED THEM, DAMN IT!"

"And she will pay for that," Shining assured me. "But we have orders. She will be brought to trial and, most likely, executed for High Treason and countless cases of murder, she will be dealt with."

I turned and spat in his face, desperate to end the mare's life who took my parents'.

Shining sighed and with a swift motion, bonked me on the head into unconsciousness.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"... And by my authority, you are now elevated to the rank of Colonel. Congratulations, Colonel Blink."

I saluted Major Shining Armour, Captain of the Guard and my cousin, sealing the promotion. Part of me was excited at the thought, the other part of me was ashamed at what I had done, what I had been through to get there.

"Thank you, sir," I said as I snapped my salute out crisply. I then about-faced and trotted off, making my way out of the barracks.

In the wake of the Sweet Acres Incident, as it was being called, the fields had been restored, with a small temporary barracks erected along the side of it. Marelin had been shipped away to the Canterlot dungeons to await her trial, and I was stuck in Ponyville until then. They were the next day, and I had a dance to attend.

Slipping into my tent, I smiled lightly at the suit I had been provided. It showed off my new ranks proudly, all fresh and new. A small letter was attached to it.

_Who would have thought you would have made this much trouble? Try not to ruin the suit too much, dear, I put my soul into it._

_ -Rarity._

I grinned lightly. Now I knew why she was the element of generosity.

Hanging the suit up on a nearby rack, I turned to exit when I passed by a mirror that had been assembled in my tent. I stopped in my tracks when I saw myself, grimacing at what was there.

For starters, my right ear was nearly gone, just the base left. A nasty scar ran along the bottom of it, ending at my chin. The mane was all burnt away of the right side, leaving only an odd crop of dark blue lining my left ear like a thick bush, with the two bright pink lines even more prominent then ever. Heaven forbid _those_ ever be burnt off.

Lower down, I was even worse. The front of my torso had a giant star of scar tissue from where it had burnt off, a very thin layer of soft white hair growing in atop it. Random patches of similar situations were blotched all over my body, and I had a deep red _X_ atop my hips, right in the center. My back right leg had a slight limp to it, but nothing I couldn't handle.

What hurt the most was my pride. I'd... lost it. Everypony had their own dark sides, I supposed, but... I'd gone berserk. Shining Armour had told me what happened, how he'd gotten my message and had arrived right in time to pry me off of Marelin. I was so close to having killed her too, apparently.

And what got me even more was that I still wanted to. This wasn't about justice, it was... rage. I clenched my jaw in anger.

Even after threatened being court-marshaled, I still wanted to follow through with her execution by my hoof.

"Hey, you o- whoa."

I glanced around the room, my vision tinted with red. While I was caught in my thoughts, Rainbow Dash had stuck her head in my tent, trying to talk to me. She had found me...

Every item in the room was wrapped in my magic, but it wasn't _my_ magic. It was a light angry pink, flickering and pulsing with pent-up mana. I wouldn't have believed it was me if I hadn't felt my horn giving off the pulses.

Flicking my head to the side, I ended my stream of magic. Everything slowly set itself down, returning to their places.

"Are... you okay there?"

I looked at Rainbow Dash. She had a nasty bruise on her face that seemed to finally be disappearing, as well as a few cuts that were almost gone.

She'd saved my life, in a way. If I'd tried taking on Marelin and the Cerberus at the same time, I would have died. There was no way around that. In a way, I did owe her my life. She was a good kid.

"Y-yeah," I sighed. "I'm... good."

I fell to my haunches, looking back at myself in the mirror. It had been over a week since the incident, and I still was slightly shocked every time I saw my body. It was pretty rough.

"Oh wow, I didn't realize just how bad it was," I heard Rainbow Dash gasp from the flap to my tent.

"It's..." I tried, willing myself to be positive. "It's not that bad, really."

I rose to my hooves, turning to face her with a pained grin.

"I should be thanking you, really, though."

Rainbow Dash rose an eyebrow at me.

"You kind of saved my life, if you can believe that I'm stubborn enough to have tried to take on both Marelin _and_ the Cerberus."

Rainbow Dash chuckled a little bit, a guilty grin on her face.

"Oh, I can believe it. I probably would have done the exact same thing, if I were you."

I liked her. I really did. After the actions she had preformed, after what she'd shown me, she had a place in my heart.

I trotted towards her, resting a hoof on her shoulder. She looked up at me, surprised. I was only a tad taller than her.

"Thanks," I said meaningfully.

Then I leaned in slowly, brushing my cheek against hers.

"I owe you one."

With that, I pulled away, leading her out of the tent. There was a few things I needed to do before the dance tonight.


	16. Chapter 16

Just Blink

_Digital_Hex_

**Chapter Sixteen**

The first stop was Sugar Cube corner. The bell over the door sounded with a light tinkering as I stepped in, Rainbow Dash following behind me. She'd insisted on following me, saying she had nothing better to do. I secretly hoped it was that she still had a crush on me.

"BLINK!"

Suddenly I was wrapped in a crushing hug from a pink blur. Rather than try and break free from it, I returned it with as much gusto as I could.

"I was wondering when you were going to come back! Especially after that fighty-wighty with that mean old Marelin pony!"

"Yeah well I'm here," I chuckled to Pinkie Pie. "I was actually wondering if I could buy something, though."

"Oh!" Pinkie exclaimed, hopping behind the counter. "What can I get for-"

She stopped when she heard a pair of crying babies upstairs.

"I'll be right back!" she yelled before she zipped upstairs. A moment later, she had a pair of foals on her back, most likely between one to two years of age. Twins, I wagered.

"Aw, come on Pound! Please stop crying! You're making your sister cry" Pinkie begged, bopping her rump up and down in an effort to get the two babies to stop crying.

The babies glanced at me, and slowly stopped, hiccuping slightly until they were staring at me with a creepy fascination in their eyes.

"Oh, uh... hi?" I said, waving a hoof towards them. The little filly with orange hair giggled, throwing her hoofs out in imitation of me. I smiled at the little unicorn. She cracked up into laughter, her brother joining in.

"Pumpkin! That's a mean thing to say!" Pinkie Pie chastised the little filly.

"What? What'd she say?" I asked. _And how do you understand baby gibberish?_ I refrained from asking.

"She said you looked funny," Pinkie said while giving Pumpkin a stern glare. Pumpkin just laughed louder.

I let out an amused nicker, too. I suppose I did look a little funny, from a child's view. All blotchy everywhere, I must have resembled a very confused clown or something.

"Can I get two muffins, please?" I asked Pinkie Pie as I passed over a few bits. A quick toss in the air later, and Pinkie changed my bits into muffins, which she passed to me with a huge grin on her face. She wanted me to ask. She wanted me to ask so bad.

"Not going to ask," I said with a smirk as I took the muffins from her.

"Feeling hungry, huh?" Rainbow Dash asked me, smirking as well. "I didn't think you'd need two muf-MRGLFLRG!"

Rainbow Dash choked on the muffin I had suddenly crammed into her open mouth.

"I snickered to myself as I trotted ahead of her, munching away at my tasty golden muffin. There were pecans in it, nommy!

"That wasn't funny," Rainbow Dash said sternly as she very carefully swallowed what I'd force-fed her, cradling the surviving half of the muffin in her hooves as she hovered along-side me, keeping pace.

"You're right, it wasn't funny," I said before I gave her a sly glance. "It was priceless."

She snickered as well, and before long we were in front of my second destination: Carousel Boutique.

The trip was short and sweet. I thanked Rarity for the suit, to which the marshmallow insisted it was no problem at all.

Trotting away, I tried to strike up a conversation with Rainbow Dash as we made our way to my final destination. The sun was beginning it's decent, soon it would be dark and the dance would begin.

"So what brought you here, Rainbow Dash? To, you know, Ponyville?"

"Oh, that?" Rainbow Dash said with a nervous chuckle. "I got assigned here out of flight school to assist with the weather team and, just... never really left. This place is great for practicing my stunts, and I'll have to work hard if I want to join the Wonderbolts!"

_Oh yeah, she wants to join that stunt team, huh? She has aspirations, that's... good._

"And you, that whole thing about trying to find a house here and what-not... that was a lie, huh?"

I swallowed hard. Hadn't expected her to figure that out, nope.

"Y-yeah, it was. I was assigned here, for my job. With the Guard, you know," I stammered.

"Don't sweat it," Rainbow Dash laughed, "I knew you weren't really looking to stay. You don't seem like the type to just settle down somewhere."

"True story," I agreed. So, she'd seen through my ruse, eh?

After a short distance, we finally made it to the library. Knocking on the door, I was greeted by Spike.

"Hey Blink, haven't seen you in a while!" he said cheerfully, letting Rainbow and I enter.

"Yeah, good to see you. Is Twilight here?"

"No, she left for the dance already with her date, said something about wanting to make sure everything was set up correctly or something," Spike sighed. He was obviously upset about something.

"What's wrong, little buddy?" I asked, sitting down next to him.

"Nothing, just..." he looked around suddenly, making sure we were the only ones around. Once he was certain that we were alone, he motioned for me to lean in.

"I... kind of asked Rarity if I could take her to the dance, and she said... no."

Hold up. This little kid had a crush on Rarity?

I tried my best to refrain from whinnying in amusement, barely succeeding.

"That... that sucks, kid," I told him before I backed away from him. He looked sad as I slowly exited the library, closing the front door before me.

"You could have given him a little more support, you know," Rainbow Dash said with a small scowl.

"I could have, but... what would I have told him? Sorry but she ain't worth it? Yeah, but no."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes before flying around before me, gently flicking her tail in my face before leading me away from the library.

"I'm sure you could have thought of something," she said with a smirk.

Yep, she had me. Hook, line, sinker.

"Come on, the dance is soon. Go get dressed, I'll meet you there," she said before soaring away.

I gave myself a smug grin before my face flushed bright red.

Did... Rainbow Dash just tell me we were going on a date?


	17. Chapter 17

Just Blink

_Digital_Hex_

**Chapter Seventeen**

The dance started at exactly seven-thirty, according to Twilight.

All around, ponies were having a great time, even this early on. I'd quickly returned to my tent, slipped into my suit, and waited for the dance to start. I quickly became bored and headed outside, found Twilight and talked with her and her date.

Willow Breeze was actually a pretty cool guy, once you got to know him. He was skinny and witty, but he was sharp and knew how to keep his tongue in his cheek once he knew exactly who I was. I chatted with Twilight as well, apologizing for having lied to her the reason for my staying in Ponyville in the first place. She took the apology well.

As more and more ponies began showing up, I decided to try and come out of my shell a little and struck up conversations with the odd mare or stallion, even had a few laughs. The music started blaring as soon as Pinkie Pie arrived, and the beat was, er, rad? I wasn't familiar with the lingo, but the music was pretty good.

And then, finally, she arrived.

I knew she was here when I was suddenly tackled from the side.

"What's up, turn-signal!" Rainbow Dash said while ruffling up my mane. She wore a simple enough dress, a purple attire with cloud-like trimming and silver accents. She even had an iris in her mane, how cute.

"Nothing much-" I tried to come up with a nick-name off of the top of my head to counter her with- "Raina."

_Raina? The best I could do was Raina?_

"Raina, huh?" she said, not impressed.

"Meh, not too worried," I said with a laugh. She laughed along with me.

"Come on, let's dance!" she said with a smile as she pulled me to the dance floor. There, we danced.

And when I say we danced, I mean we _danced_.

I didn't know what I was doing at first, but I followed Rainbow's lead. Pretty soon, I was all over the place, countering her moves with my own steps. The night slipped away as I relaxed and, for the first time in a _long_ time, had some honest-to-Faust FUN.

Hours later, Raina and I dropped into a bench surrounding the dance floor, panting and sweaty. We received a few whoops from the crowd, with a cheer and call, but I was beat. I couldn't go back out there.

"That was pretty intense," Rainbow laughed, punching me lightly in te shoulder.

"No kidding, I haven't had this much fun in... a long time!"

Rainbow laughed. It was a beautiful laugh.

I opened my mouth to talk with Rainbow, but then out of nowhere, something caught my eye. It was a flag.

The music cut off, and suddenly everypony in the vicinity was bowing as Princess Celestia trotted straight through the crowd, making a beeline for me. I saluted as she stopped straight before me.

"Celestia," I said, noticing how she winced when I mispronounced her name. I always said it as si-les-chuh.

"Colonel Blink, we need to talk."

She led me away from the dance. I shared a confused look with Rainbow Dash, who shrugged and ushered me to follow the Princess.

Following her, we stopped right outside of the field, in a quiet area where nopony would be able to hear us.

And once we were there, she gave me the news that this wasn't over.

"Marelin escaped, we lost her in the Pit."

**-END JUST BLINK-**


End file.
